


Rise of Delta

by sleepysea1111



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Riverdale (TV) Fusion, Drama, F/F, F/M, Future Fic, LGBTQ Character, Multi, Mystery, Next Generation, Riverdale High School, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-18
Updated: 2020-05-20
Packaged: 2021-03-02 05:41:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 36,126
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23710090
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sleepysea1111/pseuds/sleepysea1111
Summary: This is the story of the next generation in Riverdale. The future children of Choni, Bughead, etc. Riverdale, the once crazy small town turned good for a while, until now.
Relationships: Alice Cooper/FP Jones II, Archie Andrews/Veronica Lodge, Betty Cooper/Jughead Jones, Cheryl Blossom/Toni Topaz
Comments: 2
Kudos: 15





	1. The Legacy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Meet the next generation.

Yes, this is the story of a town once wholesome and innocent, in fact. But this story doesn’t revolve around those teen’s whose lives took a complete turn after the terrible and tragic murder of Jason Blossom. Or the devastating attacks of the black hood; or the strange mystery of the a cult. It’s also not about the former mayor, Hiram Lodge, who basically played monopoly with the whole town, trying to find power in something so innocent, yet so dark.  
This is a different story, one that no one can truly explain. You’ll have to see to it, and make your own assumptions. Besides, that’s the whole reason of a story. 

Oh sweet, obscure Riverdale. This is where it all began once, following the tragic stories of their people. But as it was explained before, this isn’t their story. You already know their events. It’s more so, about what progressed in their lives, how they managed to grow and blossom into other people. Better people. Most of them.  
The fact that they could even continue living in a place full of so many extreme events in their lives was impressing. It was some sort of attachment to the place, the people they knew. They went through hell and back together. They did absolutely everything together. That’s how they found their strength and their wish to keep going in life. 

Late nights called for milkshakes at the most iconic place in the whole entire town. It was so comfortable, full of memories and stories; it was none other than Pop’s Chock’lit Shoppe.  
The teens loved hanging out in this place, not only because their parents adored it so much when they were younger, but because it truly was delicious. It was basically culture.  
In there, two redheads, three brunettes and a blonde sat in a booth right next to the window, where they could see everything outside. They all sat in there, drinking their milkshakes and having their food. It was basically like a tradition in the hot summer nights. 

They were gonna start their sophomore year, and they were all either excited or nervous for it. Mostly nervous. 

“I can’t believe you’re leaving us, Ems.” The beautiful brunette, said. Her name was Alison Smith, and she had the most beautiful mysterious light brown eyes. “Aren’t we good enough for you?” 

Emma chuckled softly at the girl’s statement. “I’m just going to boarding school, it’s not like i’m gonna be disappearing from the face of the earth.” 

Her redhead twin sister rolled her eyes slightly. “Same thing, Em. I saw mom crying in the morning today. I feel like you might be the new favorite.” 

“Your moms would never pick a favorite.” Ben Jones said. He was a tall blonde that was too intelligent for his own good. He knew absolutely everything. 

“Yes!” The redhead girl laughed softly, she was obviously joking. “They leave me in this annoying town, but they’re letting her go to paradise.” 

“When has London ever been paradise?” Mason asked. 

“Fact!” Emma yelled. She loved using that phrase, it was one of her mom’s favorite and iconic phrases, she would use for absolutely everything, and for no reason. “But you guys promise to catch me up with everything?” 

Fred grabbed the brunette’s hand and nodded. “Of course, Ems. We will tell you everything. We’ll miss you a lot.” 

Emma blushed as she felt the redhead’s boy hand in hers. She definitely had feelings for him. He was strong, kind and a simple guy. Everything she could ever dream about.  
Emma and her sister grew up with two amazing and out of this world mothers who loved them both unconditionally. They always cared for them, gave them all of the love in the world and raised them both to be strong, compassionate and accepting. 

Cheryl and Toni had their moments of doubt, fear, and insecurity, but at the end of the day, they truly trusted and had so much loyalty for each other, which is something they passed onto their kids. Emma loved seeing her mothers so in love always. The little things Toni did for Cheryl, making her feel so special and truly like she belonged to someone. The way Cheryl made Toni feel like she the strongest woman in the world and the sacrifices she would take for her wife. She knew she wanted that kind of love, for her and for her sister. 

Ben looked up, trying to cut up the tension. “I’ve actually heard some rumors, about who’s coming back and some new people.”

“Don’t ruin the surprise, Jones.” Mason Mantle said, looking at his strawberry milkshake. He really didn’t care about rumors or anything. He just wanted a calm school experience.

“Let’s hope this is a drama free year.” Ben said, raising his glass.

Everyone else followed his lead and rose their milkshakes, toasting to that. “To a drama free year.” 

“Okay, guys. Get in the car or you’re gonna be late for the new school year.” The blonde with the infamous ponytail yelled from the front door. She was trying to get her three kids in the car. 

Having 3 children was definitely a hassle, but she wouldn’t have been able to do it without the help of her husband, who she loved deeply.  
She then got in the family car with her husband as the same time that both of their sons did too. She looked at the love of her life and raised her brow as she saw him eating a piece of toast in the car that she had just taken to the car wash. 

“What?” He asked, “I’m hungry.” 

“You’re always hungry.” Betty smiled. She loved him too much to be mad at him. 

“God, that’s where I get it from. Did you save me one, dad?” Their only daughter asked as she got in the car, sitting beside her brothers. 

Jughead smiled, and passed her daughter the other piece of toast he was saving for her. “Of course honey.”  
He loved his daughter so much, she was truly an eye opener for him, especially because she looked like Betty so much, but with a totally different personality that he loved. 

Ava smiled, and grabbed it, quickly begging to eat it. They always bonded over their love for food and writing.  
Suddenly, she saw two hands approaching her toast. Both of her brothers stole a piece.

“Hey! That’s mine, you pigs!” Ava yelled annoyed. 

“Guys, behave please. Your dad’s driving.” Betty said softly. 

Ben looked over at his mom. “But why do you guys need to drive? We’re in high school, I don't see anyone else’s parents driving them.” 

“Oh, Archie is driving Fred.” Their mom informed them. She didn’t care that they were in high school, they would always be her babies. 

Ava looked up and scoffed, “That’s cause Fred is dumb and sprained his wrist and is still recovering apparently.” 

“Behave, Ava.” Jughead told her, once he got in there, she would immediately calm down. She was definitely a daddy’s girl. 

Jackson looked at both of his parents annoyed, and decided to continue on this argument. “But I’m a senior.”

Betty looked back at her son, “Do we need to remind you how you crashed the car last spring. Your father and I are driving you guys until one of you proves that they’re responsible enough to get that privilege.” 

All of the Jones’ kids sat in silence, they obviously knew their mother was right, even if they didn’t wanna admit it. 

Ava looked out the window as she talked, “I should’ve asked Ethan for a ride. It would be less than uncomfortable than this.”

Betty furrowed her eyebrows and looked away confused as she listened to what Ava was saying. “Wait, they’re back?”

“Yeah, they are mom.” 

Jughead and Betty exchanged confused looks, it had been a couple a while since they saw the family. And they had a lot of questions on why they came back to Riverdale. 

“Oh so that’s why you’ve been snarky lately, cause you’ve been hanging out with them.” Jackson said, chuckling at his sister. 

Ava was shocked at what her older brother said. “You did not!”

Ben rolled his eyes, this was gonna be another long drive to school. Just like it had always been in his life. 

Once Ben Jones got to school, he quickly went over to his locker, trying to quickly grab everything he needed for his first period. He was so lost in his on thoughts until he felt a slight punch on his shoulder. It was none other than Brooklyn Topaz-Blossom. But she went as Brooklyn Topaz. It was the last name that everyone in her family went by. 

“Daydreaming?” The girl asked him with a teasing smile. 

“Nope, just getting my shit together.” He answered. “Which you should be doing as well.” 

Brooklyn rolled her eyes playfully and leaned into the lockers. “Whatever, I’m not a nerd like you.” 

He bit her lip, trying hard to not smile. “You’re so annoying. You know that, right?”

“Shut up.” She said, looking into the halls. 

They had been really good friends since the day they were babies. Not like they had much of a choice anyways, cause they were basically family. They remember having so many sleepovers together growing up, and learning so much about their parent’s young wild years. 

“You know, I really think this is gonna be an easy, calm year.” The redhead said, crossing her arms as she was still leaning on the lockers. 

Ben shook his head, he knew trouble was coming. In fact it was approaching the door and entering the school. 

They saw two people walk in the school, like they owned the place. It was definitely a moment. You could hear whispers around the halls, you could see the students staring at the scene. They were just taken away by the two siblings that had just made a return. 

“Oh sweet lord.” Ben let out as he continued to look at the raven haired siblings walking through the halls as if it was slow motion. “Tell me this is a dream, please.” 

Brooklyn was also taken away by the whole scene, “Not exactly, it’s more like a nightmare.” 

They saw the siblings going over to their respective group of friends, it was as if they had never left town to begin with. 

The redhead looked over at her friend. “How? Why are they here? Aren’t they supposed to be in like New York or Miami?” 

Ben nodded his head. “I was gonna tell you guys yesterday. I just know what Ava told me. She said that Mr and Ms. Lodge are doing some business deals in Riverdale, like they always have and just wanted them to have a slightly more normal teen experience for them both.” 

“Yeah right, like teens that go to the Met Gala every year can have a normal life.” Brooklyn chuckled, this was so dumb in her head. It seemed almost fake. 

The blonde guy looked at how the raven haired girl was already surrounded by girls. “My assumption is that they’re both spoiled brats and their parents wanted them to get their feet back on the earth.” 

Brooklyn laughed with that and wrapped her arm around his neck. “Sounds about right to me.” 

With that being said, they both headed into the most dreadful time in the morning. Homeroom.

Homeroom was a complete mess and a nightmare. There were days where the teacher in charge of it wouldn’t even dare to go in. Especially at the beginning of a break, new year, or monday. People would get caught up to date or continue drama. It was complete chaos. And it was especially that day.

Fred Andrews walked in the classroom with Mason Mantle, trying to ignore the hurricane that was currently happening at the front of the room. 

They both sat down next to their friends who they saw the night before. 

“I can’t wait to graduate and get the hell out of here.” Mason said, looking at the mess. 

“There’s still 3 years to go, calm down.” Brooklyn said, rolling her eyes annoyed. 

Ben sat quietly in his seat. “I’m nervous now, nothing good ever comes from a Lodge coming back to Riverdale.”  
Fred chuckled slightly, “At least she’s hot. I’ll give her that.” 

The 3 friends gave him a look simultaneously as he said that. This was gonna be the longest years of their lives. 

After that nightmare of 4 long hours of their first day of sophomore year, it was finally time for lunch.  
The small group of friends talked about how hectic the day had already been. They were all extremely tired and wanted nothing other than to go home and sleep all day long. This day had been more draining than they had expected and that they would like; but school is always like that. Whenever you think something is gonna go well, it goes the opposite way. When you think that everything is fine and that there’s nothing to worry about, drama hits you across the face. They were just gonna have to get used to that.  
Sooner than later, Alison joined the group, sitting down with her tray of food she just had gotten from the nasty cafeteria. 

“Did you guys see who came back?” She asked excited, as if no one knew already. The thing is that Alison loved drama, and knowing absolutely everything about everyone. 

“As if no one is talking about that already, Ali.” Ben said, giving her a fake smile. “They really have that impact.” 

Brooklyn looked disturbed as she looked at Alison, “Oh my god, you too? Look, I’m just trying to eat my sandwich.” 

Mason laughed at the redhead’s comment, he definitely felt the same way. He just wanted a peaceful lunch and a peaceful year, but this was high school. He was well aware that they wouldn’t get that. 

“I gotta give credit to her though. Victoria is definitely a hot girl that always wins.” Ben looked at his friends as he talked. “She’s been here less than 5 hours and she has the whole school at the palm of her hand, even Ava and Amber. That’s something that even Emma couldn’t do.” 

Brooklyn cleared her throat, “Correction, something she didn’t wanna do. Cause she is an actual human being with a heart. Not a barbie doll, like others.” 

“Shade…” 

“Guys, shut up they’re coming. Act normal.” Alison said in a whisper, as she saw the Lodge girl approaching. 

It was almost as if someone told Brooklyn specifically to act weird, she did a strange pose with a strange smile on her face, only to annoy her friends of course. She earned a punch on the shoulder from Alison.  
“Ouch…”

The raven haired girl and her two friends approached the group. She gave them a warm beautiful smile, that could tell a thousand different things. It was friendly, but you definitely could feel that if you messed with her, you would regret it. 

“Hey there, long time no see, I know.” She began to speak, she was always confident in whatever she said, which could intimidate. 

“Hi, Victoria. How’s it going?” Fred asked with a smile. He had always been kind and respectful, it was something his dad made sure he learned. 

“It’s been good, I missed it here. It’s so... rural.” The raven haired girl said, trying not to sound disrespectful. “Anyways, my brother and I are throwing this like homecoming party at our house this friday, and we definitely want all of our friends to go.”

They were confused on why Victoria Lodge would invite them all to her party, and especially call them her friends. They were all aware of their parents’ history, how they all had a wild high school experience and how they all were good friends, but that wasn’t the case for all of their kids. Especially the Lodges. 

“So can I count on you guys?” She asked with an innocent smile, hoping they would all say yes. 

“Of course, we wouldn’t miss it.” Fred answered kindly, making Victoria really happy.

“Awesome, i’ll see you guys there.” 

“Can I invite my boyfriend? He’s a senior.”

Victoria smirked at that, “Oh, into the older guys. Good for you. And of course. The more, the merrier.” 

Both the young redhead and the older redhead entered their home after a long and tiring day of both school and work.  
At such a young age, Fred had been interested in everything his father and family did. The constructions in Riverdale. The young redhead always heard stories about his grandfather; how intelligent he was, and the impact that he had over the whole town. He basically built it all. He would also always hear what an incredible man he was, and what a big heart he had. He was so proud to carry his name, and for him it was a big deal. 

His dad went straight to the kitchen to get started on dinner, since they both were famished. At that point they could eat an entire horse. They were used to eating leftovers from whatever Betty, his dad’s childhood best friend would bring over; after the heartbreaking divorce between Archie and his ex wife, things had been a bit rough for him and his son, but they were both very strong. The blonde knew this, that’s why she would check on them a lot, and make extra food for the both of them since she knew Archie didn’t really have that much time; but once in a while, he felt like preparing a meal for the both of them. Other times, his son would surprise him by returning the favor. 

After a while, they both decided on preparing some pasta. This time they were both gonna be making it, to cut the time so they could finish the meal quicker.  
Archie began to boil the water, as his son began to cut up whatever vegetable they were gonna need for the meal.  
It was pretty quiet for a few minutes, until Fred began to tell him how he did on his first day back to school.

“Tomorrow i’m gonna sign up for the football team’s trails.” Fred told his dad proudly, he knew his dad was a bulldog back in the day and he wanted to follow his footsteps. 

Archie smiled happily as he listened to his son, “That is amazing. I can help you with your techniques after dinner if you want.”

He was aware that his son was definitely strong and physically prepared for the team, but the boy was distracted, all the time. And to play any sport, you have to be on it, the whole time. You gotta have your head in the game. 

“Sure, Mason and I are gonna go this weekend to prepare. You should come.” The younger redhead said with a smile, making his dad nod. 

“I would love that.” He responded as he went on to throw the pasta in the boiling water. “I know it’s been very busy with Andrew’s Construction, but if you do end up in the time i’ll try to make it to the games.” 

Fred smiled upon hearing that. He felt like he had the best dad in the world, like no one deserved him. He was so kind and supportive no matter what he did. He couldn’t understand why his mother would leave him, if he was such a great guy. He couldn’t understand why no woman was dying for him. It was just confusing to him. The only thing he knew is that his dad had been in love just once, but it didn’t work out. It was one of his greatest fears. The girl had other dreams. Bigger dreams; and she made them all come true, which made Archie incredibly proud of the girl, but it didn’t mean that he didn’t miss her like crazy. 

“Dad, there’s also something else.” Fred began. He had been debating all day if he wanted to tell his father. He came to the realization that it would be better if it came from him, than if he found out on his own. He just wanted to give him a heads up.  
The young redhead continued, “So, Ethan and Victoria Lodge are back in town. They joined Riverdale high today.”

Archie stopped stirring the pot as he heard the news. He tried to put the pieces together in his mind. “The Lodges are back?” 

“Yes…” 

The man looked out the window as all of the flashbacks began to take over his whole entire being. The day he saw Veronica for the first time at Pop’s, the struggles they went through, the first time they were intimate with each other, how scared he was to screw it up but also how ready he was to show her how madly in love he was with her. Everything began to play over and over in his head. Her sweet harmonic laugh, her raven haire spreaded out on his pillows in the morning. How grumpy she was when she wouldn’t get her daily dose of caffeine; her spanish. God, he loved that more than anything. Every single detail he loved about her, including all her flaws.  
He also remembered her awful and insane dad, how he tried to tear them apart never succeeded. The day he kneeled down on one knee to propose, it was at the night of the graduation. From the very first moment they met, he knew he wanted to spend the rest of her life with her; no matter what force tried to break them apart, they never lost each other; until that night.  
Her dreams were different, she figured that out. She couldn’t stay for him, and she hated herself for it. She was her father’s daughter, and ambition was in her blood. 

We’re endgame, Archie.

“Dad?” Fred asked, getting the man to come back to reality. “Are you okay?”

Archie looked over at his son and nodded, of course he wasn’t. He didn’t wanna worry him even more than he already was, but he knew he’d understand.  
“I am. It’s just Veronica coming back-”

“I know, dad. I’m sorry.” 

“I’m home!” Brooklyn yelled the moment she opened the front door of the house. She then went on to leave the keys on the big marble table that was on the middle of the hall. She went on to look for her mother that was probably in the kitchen. 

“Hi, baby. How was school?” The older redhead woman asked, as she stirred the pot of food she was currently cooking. It smelled like Brooklyn’s favorite meal, spaghetti bolognese. She just got excited by the delicious smell of the food. 

“Uh, it was fine. I missed Emma a lot.” Brooklyn said, sitting on one of the high chairs in front of the counter, looking at her mother cooking in front of her. 

“I know, honey. This is why i’m making your favorite.” Her mother said with a big smile, she loved spoiling her kids. “I know, Em will miss you too.”

Brooklyn gave her a small pout, which she would always give Cheryl since she was a toddler for almost every reason. She knew she was gonna miss her sister, her soulmate; but Emma chose a different path. The brunette loved music so much, ever since she was a baby. It was in her. The moment she decided to go abroad to learn about it, she knew her family would be sad to let her go, but they they would be supportive. 

The young redhead heard some steps coming down from the stairs quickly, getting her out of her thoughts.

“Hey, babe. I can’t find JJ’s sock.” The older brunette said, stopping in front of her wife, and looking at the food she was making. “Oh my god that smells so good.” 

Her wife smiled proudly at the compliment as she continued to stir the pot. “I’m making both of your favorite’s. I know that Em going back to boarding school was hard for both of you, my angels. We have to be supportive.” 

“Best mom of the year.” Brooklyn heard her other mom say, as she watched the older redhead with a smirk on her face.

“Toni did you leave Jason upstairs by himself?” 

The former gang member looked astonished as her wife asked her that question. At that exact moment, she knew she had messed up.  
Both of the mothers quickly rushed upstairs to look for the youngest member of the family, who was probably running around naked or doing some mischief. 

Brooklyn chuckled softly to herself while she thought about the situation. She loved her family so much, and she missed her sister like crazy. 

The twins were inseparable growing up, they loved doing every single thing together, until they started growing up and their personalities started to shine through. Emma was very calm and supportive like Toni, but had a more sophisticated side like Cheryl. Brooklyn was a bit more strong headed and loud like Cheryl, but she had Toni’s big heart and courage. 

“New York burgers are way better.” The young Lodge said, stealing a fry from the beautiful blonde in front of him. 

Ava laughed and softly hit him in the arm. “Oh my god, Ethan. Shut up. You know your mom still owns this place, right?” 

The guy nodded but still shrugged, “Not the best of her investments, you know what this place needs?” 

“Better restrooms?” 

“Aside from that,” He agreed. “Local performers on weekends, maybe a little remodeling.” 

Ava nodded at his proposal, “Yeah, totally. But I mean, can’t your mom give you this place? I mean you could totally run in, and you’d be great at it.” 

He sighed and sat back. “Not a bad idea, Jones.”

“And I could totally waiter.” Ava smiled, she wasn’t the biggest fan of the idea but she just wanted to help out.

He looked into her eyes and gave her a small smirk, “You’re too cute to be a waiter. You should get a more important role.” 

The blonde blushed heavily at his words, she knew he had her on his feet. 

“But i’ll talk to my mother, and see what she says. This whole town could use a new look.” 

A new school year meant that it was time to start fresh. A time to promise to yourself to do better in your grades and take classes seriously, but failing the attempt; working on having more friends, or starting working on those new skills you’ve wanted to try out. It also meant that it was time to join new clubs for the school year.  
It was lunch period and tables full of people giving out information for the clubs or sports teams were lined up outside, for all of the students to get a chance to look for whatever they were interested in, and ask their questions. 

Some tables were filled more than others, for example, the chess club was lonelier than ever, just like the mathletes club.  
One of the busiest stations was cheer. It was filled with a lot of people since they had recently just opened it for everyone. In it, the head cheerleaders stood, giving out information to potential young teenagers interested in being a part of it. 

The cheerleaders were considered royalty at Riverdale High. It was extremely cliché. They were the prettiest, and most popular people at school, and everyone either hated them, or wanted to be them. They just looked cool, with their whole uniforms or their really tight and tiny training outfits.

Ava was currently taking a break from giving out information, and was talking to who she considered her best friend.  
“I swear to you, he is perfect.” 

The raven haired girl chuckled at Ava was telling her. “Gosh, I can’t with you and my brother. I mean, I’m happy for you, obvi. But it’s so weird hearing people talk about him like that.” 

The blonde nodded at her friend, she completely understood; although that wasn’t gonna change things for her. She wanted to talk about her crush 24/7. 

“Do your parents know?” Victoria asked, she genuinely wanted to know all details, even if it grossed her out. 

Ava hesitated on answering that question, but she knew she had to.

“Not yet, but if it gets serious then of course they will.” 

Victoria let out a small laugh, shaking her head. “Your dad is gonna freak out.”

“God I know.” 

Amber Smith looked at the girls and crossed her arms, she wasn’t gonna do all the work for herself. “Girls, break is over, we gotta keep going. Come on.” 

“So, you’re telling me you’re not gonna join anything?” Ben asked, as he walked alongside his best friends, Brooklyn and Fred. 

Brooklyn shook her head. She was definitely not interested. “No, it’s just a waste of time, honestly.” 

“That’s the school spirit, Brook.” Fred said, “At least join theater. Do it for Em.” 

Brooklyn looked disgusted as her friends tried to convince her to join something. 

“Or you could join the cheerleading squad. I’m sure Emma would like that too.” Ben scoffed, knowing that the redhead’s reaction was gonna be.

Brooklyn looked over at the cheer station, busy with people, and the people she didn’t wanna see in charge of it. She couldn’t believe it.

“Why is she there? Is she seriously the captain now? She hasn’t even been here in years!” Brooklyn said, trying to contain her anger as much as possible. 

“Relax, Brook. Maybe there’s more to the story.” Ben said, trying to calm his cousin down. 

Brooklyn shook her head. “Emma would hate this.” she said, before storming off to the table.

  
Victoria smiled as she saw the redhead in front of her, quickly joined by her two other friends.

“Hey, are you guys here for information?” Victoria gave them all one of her perfect smiles as she handed out a flayer. 

“What do you think you’re doing?” Brooklyn asked her, not holding back at all. 

The Lodge looked at her slightly confused, “Giving you a-”

The redhead shook her head, “Not that. Why are you here? Are you the leader now?” 

“In fact she is.” Ava stepped in, defending her friend. “We all voted her in, since she showed interest in having the part and-”

The raven haired smiled at her friend, interrupting her respectfully, “I got this, A.” 

The redhead stood there with her arms crossed, waiting for an explanation to all of this madness.

“Rachel Standford. The senior leader of the squad had no hope after her successor left school, and I stepped in.” Victoria began, staying calm and collected. “I came to Riverdale earlier this summer, and worked day and night for the trials. After a voting process with all of the girls and the seniors, they selected me.

Brooklyn shook her head, not believing what was happening. “Emma really worked hard for it too.” 

Victoria looked at her and shrugged, “Do you see Emma anywhere in this building? Cause I’d be happy to talk to her, if that’s okay.” 

The young redhead looked down, knowing that the Lodge was stating facts. 

“Yeah, I didn’t think so.” Victoria said, leaning in closer. “Your sister left the squad, the others didn’t think they had any other choice at first-”

“So you’re gonna do what Emma was supposed to do?” Brooklyn asked, she wasn’t buying what the Lodge was telling her. “You’re picking up her scraps?” 

“No i’m here to do it better.” Victoria said with a proud smile. “I proved myself worthy. And i’m here to stay. Sorry if that caused any inconvenience.” 

“Yeah, I’m not buying this, Victoria.” 

“You don’t really have to. Sounds like more of your problem.” Victoria said slightly more cold. She was not gonna let someone else walk over her. A Lodge could never. “You can do whatever you want, Brooklyn.” 

Brooklyn stood there, already knowing that she didn’t like that girl one bit. She hated her hidden personality.

The raven haired gave her one more fake smile before speaking again, “Anyways. I’m really busy but, enjoy the rest of your day.”

With that, Ben just placed his arm around his best friend and basically dragged her out of there. 

“Come on, let’s get out of here.” 

The redhead couldn’t keep her eyes off the Lodge girl. She wasn’t afraid of her. 

Ms. Bradburry was probably the school’s favorite teacher and everyone’s favorite class. Ethics could be such a drag for a lot of the students, but the teacher was so kind and understanding that no one really had a problem with it. Another reason why people liked her was because she was young. She was probably on her mid-twenties, so she understood teenagers. She knew that they were all going through so many changes, hormones and what not, so she knew how to deal with them.  
She basically taught an entire generation together, which meant that that her classroom was always full, but she really liked that. She was a very talkative and easy going person. 

Brooklyn, Ben, Fred and Mason entered the classroom and quickly grabbed some seats together. If you wanted to seat with your friends in that class, you had to go in early, or else all of the other seats would be taken. 

“Finally the only class I like.” Brooklyn said, looking over at her cousin.

Ms. Bradburry upon hearing that as she entered the classroom and walked over to the redhead’s seat. 

“I’m glad you’re still enjoying this class, Ms. Topaz.” The teacher said with a kind smile. 

Brooklyn smiled back at the teacher in response, but that smile faded away as she watched the evil raven haired girl and her friends walk in the classroom. 

“I see you made new friends.” Ms. Bradburry said, making the girl bury her head in her hands. 

“She’s so annoying. Can’t you dismiss her from your class forever?” She asked hopeful, but the woman in front of her shook her head.

“I’m sorry. But i’m glad you guys are together in this class.” Ms. Bradburry said, “Maybe this class will help you both tolerate each other.” 

Brooklyn looked over at the group of mean girls taking their seats together, as the quiet girl from their grade grabbed her things and moved far away from those girls. 

“Between us, I have received some complains about her.” Ms. Bradburry confessed, before going over to the front of the classroom to finally begin her class.

The confession made the redhead chuckle slightly. Of course what her teacher was saying was true, and she knew it. She was just happy that even her favorite teacher saw it too.  
The teacher cleared up her throat to get everyone’s attention. 

“Good morning everyone, and welcome to a new school year.” Ms. Bradburry began, making everyone stop talking and put their attention to her. “We’re gonna start the class as we always do. For those of you who are new, we always begin this class by sharing something personal to us. It could be either a personal problem we wanna work on, or something we learned about ourselves. Who would like to begin?” 

Naturally, Fred Andrews got up from his seat first. “Something I wanna work on is being more focused on school this year.” 

A few chuckled were heard in class as he talked. They all knew Fred was always distracted in something, but the teacher smiled proudly at him.

“Amazing, Fred. I’m sure you’ll get there.” Ms. Bradburry said. “Mr. Jones?” 

Ben got up from his seat, his palms were getting sweaty and his heart began to beat faster. “I wanna work on trying to stop being shy.” 

“You’re getting better, I can sense it.” The teacher said softly, and continued on calling other students, listened to their problems and encouraged them on making changes to their lives. 

The teacher looked at the new student, who was basically not paying attention to the class and was talking to her friends. “Ms. Lodge, would you like to share anything? Any personal problem, or anything you would like to work on?”

Victoria gave the teacher a small smile and thought about it for a few seconds before answering. 

“No, not really. Thank you.” The raven haired girl answered confidently. 

Ms. Bradburry furrowed her brows and looked at the girl. She remained calm and collected. 

“Are you sure, Ms. Lodge?” The teacher asked, “In this class we love doing this because we can support one another, and learn to be kinder and more ethic.” 

Victoria nodded slightly and looked at her, knowing she wasn’t gonna change her mind. She never did. 

“Yeah, and I’m gonna pass. I do not share about my personal problems. I have my own therapist.” 

The whole classroom listened and watched the scene entertained, no one had ever given Ms. Bradburry an attitude before. She was so loved around the school. Brooklyn rolled her at the girl’s annoying and mean comments. If she didn’t like the girl before then she for sure didn’t at that point. 

“Is it required that we share about our childhood traumas in this class?” Victoria boldly asked, making some of the students chuckle slightly at the comment. 

Ms. Bradburry shook her head and smiled, “Of course not. I’m sorry, Ms. Lodge. That is your personal choice.” 

Victoria smirked slightly. 

Alison looked over at the redhead guy and chuckled softly, she still couldn’t believe the past. Especially now.

“Your sweet dad really used to date her mom?” She asked. She wasn’t confused, she was concerned. You could tell by her voice.

Fred nodded in response. “Yeah, I know. But her mother is different, though. My dad says that she was kind.”

“That is extremely hard to believe.” The brunette said as she looked over at the Lodge who was currently exchanging laughs and small talks with her friends. 

The redhead laughed at his friend’s comment and watched as the brunette leaned in closer to his desk. 

“Drew told me to ask you about the bulldogs tryouts. Do you need help with that?” She asked his friend.

Fred shook his head with a small smile. He was thankful for the offer but he was gonna definitely pass. “I’m okay, Ali. Thank you. Don’t worry about it.”

Alison gave him a smile, she completely understood. Besides, Fred’s dad used to be co-captain of the bulldogs back in the day. It ran in his blood. 

After a few long hours of school, chores or whatever they had planned for their friday afternoon, it was finally time for the party.

The Lodge’s house was huge, luxurious and very modern looking, which is something that Fred wouldn’t expect less from that family. 

He debated on whether it would be a good idea to go to the party after that whole situation with his dad, he didn’t wanna upset him in any way. Not that it would anyways, since it wasn’t more than just a teenager party.

Although, he didn’t have much of a choice. His friend Brooklyn just picked him up with Ben and they basically dragged him there. 

“No one gets separated, okay? We go in together, and we leave together.” Ben said as they walked into the big house. He could be awkward at times, and he wasn’t the biggest fan of parties, but he was still curious like any other teenager. Besides, he knew that Jackson was gonna get hammered and someone had to make sure that Ava was doing okay. 

It was chaos. People all over the house drinking, smoking and basically being teenagers. Some people were in the pool chatting, some others were in the huge backyard playing football (mostly bulldogs) and others were just dancing to the loud music that was playing. It was very fortunate that the Lodges had such a big terrain that there weren’t even other houses in the street. It was very private. 

Fred walked around with his two friends, as they tried to find their other friends who were definitely at the party already. The house was so big and full of people that after a few minutes of looking, they gave up. They knew that at some point they would eventually run into each other. Who they did run into was the Lodges with their own group of friends.

“We should go say hi to them.” Fred said to his friends. He just wanted to be respectful to the people that invited him to their house.

Brooklyn immediately glared at him and shook her head. “Oh hell no. I’m not saying hi to her.”

“It doesn’t hurt being nice once in a while, Brook.” The redhead guy told her. 

She rolled her eyes and crossed her arms, “Why would I be nice? She’s such a brat, and deeply inside I know she’s just one mean, cold bitch.” 

“So why were you asking earlier if we were going to come to the party? Why are we even her party?” Ben immediately looked at the girl and furrowed his brows at her response.

“You dragged me here.” 

Ben sighed and shook his head. It was half true, but still. His wanted to give the Lodge girl the benefit of the doubt, especially since he knew his mother and the raven haired girl’s mother had a past, and they were best friends. 

As the three of them looked over at the group of people in the halls, they noticed that the energy in the room changed, and they all looked tense. Something was off. 

Ethan looked like he had completely lost it, going off at another boy; while his sister looked so annoyed. She was rolling her eyes and crossing her arms, trying to speak to her brother, but of course it looked like he wasn’t even listening to her. So, she just stood there with an attitude, while Ben’s sister was trying to talk to her. 

Eventually Victoria began to walk away from the group, and she looked like she needed to punch someone. The blonde immediately followed her behind, but the girl was walking too quickly. 

“He’s a jerk, why do you think my dad always leaves?” They heard the girl said to her friend as she walked off. She looked done, like she didn’t wanna talk to anyone. 

Ben stopped his sister, he knew that he had to get her out of whatever was happening there. Ava was a really good person, and she always wanted to be there for people, and fix their problems for them. He knew this. 

“Hey, what’s going on?” Ben asked his sister concerned, as his friends watched and listened. They wanted to know too.

Ava didn’t even pay attention to him, she just looked at her friend who was reaching the other end of the house.  
“I don’t know, I need to talk to her to find out.” 

Ben shook his head. “No you need to sit down for a second, Ava. Please don’t get involved with this. The Lodges are bad news, dad told you. You can’t fix her, Ava.” 

Victoria wanted to get away from everything. Her annoyingly protective brother, her annoying little group of friends who would always ask her everything. She felt like privacy was now a luxury she couldn’t afford anymore. That is exactly why she even debated on going off to Riverdale with her mother. She knew people in small towns were more into drama and would talk a lot more. God, she missed New York and Miami. 

She entered to one of the main restrooms in the house, tried to lock the door and walked over to the bathtub. She got in there and just sat there all by herself. She began to think about everything. The move, the new school, her friends, the pressure that she had from not only people but also her family. It was just so overwhelming to her.  
She was taken out of her thoughts as she heard someone walk in the room she was in. The bathtub was insanely big that they probably didn’t even see her there, even with the clear curtains. 

“Hey, it’s taken…” She said, but it was too late. Whoever had entered was already peeing. She did the best that she could and covered her eyes. Of course she didn’t wanna see that. The worst part was hearing it.

“Oh, crap. Sorry. I’ll be done in a sec.” She heard a guy’s voice. She couldn’t recognize his voice at all. She thought it was probably some random guy her brother had invited. 

“Fine. Just hurry up.” She said in an annoyed tone. 

The guy eventually finished doing that and went on to wash his hands. He looked over at the bathtub and saw her just sitting there. She looked like she wasn’t having a great time. How could the most beautiful girl he had ever seen not be happy? Even at her own party.

He finished and dried his hands with one of the small towels and then walked over to where the girl was. 

“Are you okay?” He asked.

Victoria looked up at him and nodded, then gave him a small smile. “Yeah, I’m alright, don’t worry.” 

“You don’t look like it. Can I sit?” He asked, earning a small nod from the girl. With that, he got in the bathtub and sit in front of her. 

She just sighed softly and hoped he wouldn’t ask any questions, but she knew that wasn’t gonna happen. 

“Why are you sitting here instead of enjoying your party?” He asked.

Victoria began to play with her hair. That was something she did whenever she was trying to not get nervous. 

“I’m just kind of over it, to be honest.” She answered. 

He knew that it wasn’t the whole truth. There was more to the story. 

“There’s more, right?” 

She let out a small smile and nodded, “Yeah. It’s just my brother is so annoying. So jealous. He thinks the whole world revolves around him. He just got into this fight with this guy i’m  
dating. It’s not fun.” 

He looked at her as she talked. She didn’t seemed like the same girl that intimidates the whole school, she didn’t look cold or mean. She just looked like a regular girl who was having real feelings.

“Well, maybe he just sees something you don’t. Brothers are like that.” He said to her, hoping it would make her feel better. “Believe me, I have a brother and he is such a jerk too.”

Victoria let out a small laugh as she looked at him and listened. “They’re the worst, right?”

He nodded and laughed along with her. “They are, but mine. Geez, he’s like Satan reincarnated. I’ve seen him do bad things but, he’s still my brother.”

“Yeah, you basically have to bear with it. It’s such a struggle.” She said, rolling her eyes lightly. “I love him, obviously. But he’s like the favorite of the family. The worst is that, my mom won’t see how awful he can be sometimes. Not to me but to other people.” 

“I totally get that. It’s the same with me. Parents really do have their favorites.” He said shrugging a bit. “But still, I’ve learned to let it go. You should never fight family.”

She nodded at his words. “Blood really is thick. Especially in my family, and to my dad. 

“It’s completely torture, but hey. That’s just life, right?” He asked, trying to lighten up the mood a bit. 

“Right. Thanks though.” She said with a smile. “For listening, no one ever really does.” 

He gave her a genuine smile, he really felt good that at least he could do that for her. “Of course, no problem.”

“Sorry, I didn’t catch your name.” Victoria said softly. 

“Mason.” 

Jackson Jones was having the time of his life at this party. Everything was happening so fast around him, and especially after drinking a lot, he began to loose complete sense of everything surrounding him. The only thing he knew for sure is that he was having a good time, and his friends were too. That’s all he cared about.  
One of his best friends, Michael; who was a bulldog as well, pulled out a small clear packet, with something that looked bright red in it. It almost looked unnatural, like literally radioactive. 

“Who wants to continue the party, pals?” Michael asked with a wide smirk on his face.

Another friend pushed Michael slightly and laughed. “Where did you get that, dude? I heard they were they ran out of them.”

“And I heard they killed someone in Greendale.” Michael continued. At this point he was almost gone that he could only hear voices. “I got it from a secret vendor. He said that they’re coming back in no time.” 

He started to pour some of the red dust on his friends’ palms. 

“Come on, try it, Jackson” The tall guy said, taking out his friends hand and putting some of it on his hand. “You’re gonna enjoy the ride.”

“What’s this called?” Jackson asked curiously. 

“It’s called Reversion.” He heard his friend say finally. That was the last thing he heard before he completely lost conscious of whatever he was doing. He did exactly what his friend told him to do. 

“Enjoy the ride.”

A few mornings later, everything was back to normal, only to the point that it could get. Everyone was back in school after that sweet and relaxing weekend from the first week of the new school year. But, we all know how everyone hates Mondays. They’re the most dreaded day of the week for obvious reasons.  
The redhead guy walked along the hallway with his group of friends, talking about their weekend and how much they would rather still be in bed. 

“So, I heard you were gonna be taking care of The Blue and Gold.” Fred said to the blonde next to him with a smile. 

Ben nodded and smiled back at his friend. “I am. I’ve wanted to for a bit, but I just didn’t have the guts to talk to the principal; that guy terrifies me. My mom basically talked to him into it.” 

His cousin said with a smile, patting him slightly in the back. “Well, I am happy for you. You’re finally putting your talent to work.” 

The friend group new that Ben could be anxious, and slightly shy a lot of the times. He was an amazing kid though, he just needed to work on his self-esteem a lot more. It’s like the guy was full of secrets, no one ever truly saw or understood the things he went through, but as friends, they were all there to support him no matter what.

“My mom basically begged me to join the Vixens last night.” Brooklyn said with a sarcastic chuckle. “I don’t understand why that woman doesn’t understand that I might look like her but, I’m so not the same.” 

“I bet she just wanted you to continue on the legacy. Both of your moms were Vixens.” Ben said, trying to get the girl to realize that.

“Yeah, and mom hated that too. She basically joined because she had a crush on my mother, and she stayed there just for moral support. Also probably to stare at her ass all day. But, she didn’t like it.” Brooklyn said, as her friends laughed at her comment. 

All of her friends truly loved her mothers. Who didn’t? They were so incredible and nice. 

Brooklyn rolled her eyes as she continued on, “Besides, evil brunette barbie owns the Vixens now.”  
Her friends nodded at that fact. It was for the best that Brooklyn didn’t join the cheer squad. She would end up choking the Lodge girl if she had to spend time with her more than 6 minutes. It was for the sake of not starting World War III. 

“Attention students.” They all heard through the loud speakers as the principal of the school talked. They always dreaded announcements for some reason. 

“We have just been given the heartbreaking news that the student Michael Farris has passed away this past Sunday.” He continued on.

Everyone around the halls were shocked by the news. Of course almost everyone knew who Michael was, he was a bulldog and a very popular guy. Whispers and voices began to fill up the entire place, asking questions to other people or just commenting on what was just said. 

“We do not have a large amount of information about the current event. The police is still doing their work to find the cause, but for now we will have a memoriam tomorrow in his honour at the theater room. May his soul rest in peace.”

And with that, the announcement was over. Everyone was just left wondering. What had happened to Michael? Where had this happened? Are we in danger? After so much work that people had put in this town to stop things like this from happening, was history gonna repeat itself? 

The group of friends just stared at each other, completely shocked by the news. They had no idea of what to say to one another. They didn’t know Michael Farris personally, but had just seen him at the party a few days ago, and of course they had run into him at Pop’s a dozen times before. Life was crazy and weird, and it could end at any given moment. But, they didn’t expect for his to end as unexpected and as quickly as it did. 

Brooklyn looked away and shook her head softly. She didn’t look as sarcastic and playful as she normally did. Her expression and whole vibe was serious this time, which wasn’t something she did often.  
“What is happening to this town?”


	2. Bency Drew

They had been in the field for hours and hours. Mason was already extremely tired and over being under the sun for a long time, but he was an amazing friend that wanted to see his friend succeed and actually pass the Bulldogs trials.   
He wasn’t such a fan of sports himself. He did go to the gym with his friend, but that was it. He didn’t like being competitive, hit or stressed; which you totally went through all of those by playing a competitive sport.  
Mason was basically there for moral support and whatever the redhead needed for the long and tiring hours of trying to train and get better at football. 

“Just one more, Mase.” Fred tried to convince his friend, even though he knew that they were both exhausted and out of breath. 

Mason glared at him for a few seconds before rolling his eyes. Finally, he nodded and began to walk far from his friend so that he could throw the ball. 

“But go further though.” Fred yelled from across the field as he watched his friend. “I hope I can catch this one.”

The training hadn’t been going as well as both of they guys had hoped. Fred was a very distracted person. He was strong and definitely fit for the job, but his mind always drifted off for some reason. He would think about everything and anything, and everyone knew it. Fred had actually seen people about that issue he had, but nothing really seem to work, so he just decided to do it on his own. He was hoping he could get better at it, because if he didn’t, he wasn’t gonna make it into the team. He didn’t wanna disappoint his father. 

After Mason had gotten very far from his friend, he looked over and decided to warn him that he was gonna do it.

“Ready, Fred?” Mason yelled loudly so his friend could hear it. 

Fred nodded in response and got ready for it. He put all of his focus on the ball and the ball only. He needed to get this, he needed to progress. He was tired of being the distracted kid who always disappoint. He saw the ball, and followed it with all of his speed, strength and focus. Eventually, he caught it. 

Mason ran over to his friend, as they both basically freaked out over what had happened. He was happy for his friend.

“Let’s keep it going like this and you’ll be a bulldog in no time.” He told the redhead. He earned a smile from his friend, and a fist bump.

They were still pretty exhausted, but they wanted to keep this up, since they knew that they could get to a better place. They could also get better at some things.  
It was a good day for the young Andrews and the young Mantle.

It was a very hectic time at the Jones’ household. There was a lot going on and everything was happening at once. So many news, so much information, so many feelings, so little time. That was basically Betty and Jughead’s life ever since they got married and moved in together. Betty Jones owned the Riverdale Register, which was the local newspaper and it was passed down to her by her mother who back then owned it and wrote the real town stories to keep people informed. 

Reading the newspaper was obviously more interesting back then since Riverdale used to be the craziest town at the time. The death of Jason Blossom, the black hood, the farm, and griffins and gargoyles took over their years of high school. And they took over the news. Now, the headline stories were about new locals openings, who won at the hot dog contest. But, everything was gonna change after the death of Michael Farris. They were both aware of that. And they needed to get into writing and investigating the case. They were both more than just two journalists. They wanted the truth and they also wanted justice. 

“I haven't been able to contact the autopsist, but i’ll let you know.” Jughead said, looking at his wife who was currently typing something so quickly on her laptop. She was trying to get her ideas as quickly as she could before she could lose them. Betty had to finish this story as quickly as possible. 

The blonde stopped for a bit and looked away from her laptop of a bit, trying to think. 

“I know you’re thinking about something. Share.” Her husband said intrigued. He dragged a chair from the dinner and placed it on front of where she was, then he sat and looked at her.

“Have you considered the possibility of this maybe being a murder?” She asked. 

Jughead thought about that theory for a few seconds, trying to connect all of the dots in place. Something in him just couldn’t put all the pieces together for it to me a murder. It just couldn’t be that. It had to be something else. He talked to his kids after school. As hard as it was for them, he needed to ask the questions about Michael. It could be absolutely anything, especially in that cursed town of theirs. 

The man shook his head in response. “No. I think it has to be something else. Nothing has happened in this town for years, Betty. If something like that was gonna happen, it would’ve happened a while ago.” 

His wife nodded her head as she listened to him. Something about that clicked in her head, but still, she had her doubts. As journalists’ they had to be open to the possibility of absolutely anything. That’s all they had. 

Betty looked down at her document, gave it one more read before she continued writing her ideas down. This was gonna be a long one. She wanted to make sure that no one would be offended by it. She really wanted to be respectful but also honest, especially since Michael was a friend’s of her son.   
Betty was a really empathic person. She put herself in Michael’s mother’s shoes. What she must be feeling, and what she could be going through. The blonde never wanted to go through anything similar. Her kids meant the world to her. 

She got distracted as she heard someone approaching the kitchen. She looked over and saw her son Ben currently walking towards her. 

“Hey, have you guys found anything yet?” He asked as he leaned down to kiss the top of her mother’s head. 

Ben had always been so affectionate towards his mother, which was something she loved about him. He was always so sweet to her, unlike her oldest son Jackson, who could be sweet in his own way but never showed it as much. 

Betty gave him a warm smile and shook her head in response. “Not really. I think your father is right on this one.” 

“Maybe. I’ll let you know if I find something at school.” He said, hoping that would give his mother some hope. 

She nodded smiled, quickly returning to her work. 

Ben then went on to the fridge and got food out to prepare himself a snack. After seeing this, Jughead quickly got up from his seat and followed his son up to the fridge. The whole family had a big appetite and were hungry at all times. Both of them went on to make themselves a sandwich as they heard another footsteps approaching the kitchen. It’s almost as if they smelled it from a far. They were all that into food. 

Ava quickly walked into the kitchen and grabbed a bottle from the top cabinet and then filled it up with cold water. 

Betty noticed that Ava was wearing a pair of black leggings, a loose blue t-shirt and tennis shoes. She was confused because it was so late to go for a workout. 

“Where do you plan on going, young lady?” Betty asked her daughter, looking in her direction. She watched as the younger blonde walked around the kitchen to grab her things. 

“I gotta go to cheer meeting.” Ava answered, forgetting the fact that she hadn’t even ask her mother for permission to head out. She just assumed that she was free to go because being a cheerleader was a part of school. Thankfully, Betty got that. 

“But it’s kinda late, Ava.” Betty answered. She definitely understood though. She remembered that the little time she got to be a cheerleader, Cheryl was so hard on the girls. The redhead made them rehearse early in the morning and late at night. The head cheerleader could always be a bitch because she wanted everything to be perfect.

“Yeah, that’s what I said.” Ava began, slightly annoyed. “But, we’re starting the recruiting process. A lot of people wanna join this year.” 

Betty nodded slightly. She completely got it. “Just be careful sweetie. Do you want me to drive you?” 

“No, it’s okay. Amber is giving me a ride.” The younger blonde answered as she quickly went on to give her mom a hug. 

Her father watched them from across the room with a slight smile on his face, as Ben watched them but didn’t care enough. He was more interested in the sandwich in front of him.

“Ava you don’t wanna help me and your mom on this article?” Jughead asked the girl. 

The girl looked away for a bit as she thought about it. Once she knew her answer she looked at her dad and shook her head. 

“I got cheer stuff, dad.” 

Jughead walked over to her and wrapped an arm around his daughter. “But you love mysteries, pumpkin. Your mother used to read you two her favorite detective book at night.” 

Ben looked up and shrugged. “I’ll do it.”

“Hooray Bency Drew.” Ava said with a smile, wrapping her arm around her dad and giving him a short hug. 

“Anyways, I gotta go or i’m gonna be late.” She said as she pulled away from the hug. 

“Be careful, pumpkin.” 

“Jesus, these cheer tryouts are endless. I’m exhausted.” A very tired Ava said as she sat in the passenger’s seat of Ethan’s bright yellow, beautiful and luxurious car. “Why can’t your sister just be satisfied with anything?” She continued to complained, quickly chugging her water bottle. 

Ethan laughed slightly at the blonde’s comment and nodded, as he started the engine of the car as they waited on his sister to get out of the school. 

“I know right, she’s a total control freak.” He confessed.

Ava smiled slightly and looked over at the raven haired guy next to her. 

“But thank you for the ride, and for not leaving me alone out there.” She said softly. 

He smiled slightly at her, showing off the small dimple on his left cheek. “Of course, i’m always here. Just call whenever.” 

The blonde blushed at his kindness. She really liked how charming and attentive Ethan was. She had never met someone like him before. She of course knew him but she had met him when they were both really young. He was different.

“Please tell me you’re coming to dinner on Thursday.” Ava said. She was hoping that he was gonna be there as well as his sister and their mother. Betty had invited them all for dinner and she was really hoping and praying that Ethan was gonna come. 

“Only to see that beautiful face, of course.” He answered with another one of his charming smiles, making the girl melt almost immediately. 

“Can’t wait.” 

It was finally the next day of another really busy and tiring school day. A young brunette entered the music room alone, hoping that he would have time before his first period.   
Mason Mantle might not be a fan of playing sports or anything of that sort, but he was for sure a fan of music. He didn’t know how and where he had picked that up since his father was the co-captain of the Bulldogs with Archie Andrews.

Music was something he was just immediately drawn to ever since he could basically walk. His favorite early memories where of when his family get to visit the Andrews’ family. He remembered he was outside playing hide and seek with a very young Fred. They were both about 6 years old when it happened. 

A young Mason was looking and running around the property, looking for a place to hide in. He saw one door and he entered it. Inside it was this room filled with instruments, soundproof walls and a big couch. Everything he dreamed of. It was like walking into heaven for him. Of course, the little boy didn’t know how to play at the time. Right after he asked Fred’s father about the room, Archie saw the kid’s interest. The redhead offered to teach him some guitar chords. After that, he hasn’t stopped doing music or thinking about music. It became something that was a part of his whole identity. 

Archie continued to teach the kid about music. On a deeper level. It was things that they wouldn’t teach you at school. It began to become a habit to him to go over to the Andrews’ home after school, and he began to grow a bigger friendship with his best friend’s dad, he was like his second father. What helped a lot too was that Archie got along with Reggie really well. Both parents went through similar things. They were both divorced and raising kids. So they completely understood each other. Love played them both a lot, but they both had each other’s support and advice; and with that, they did the best they could. 

Mason once again was currently dedicating most of his time to music. His friends knew that if he wasn’t present at lunch or before classes began, it was because he was in the music room, working on something. He always had these melodies in his head, but writing about feelings was hard for him.   
He was just a kid who hadn’t really experience a lot in life. No a heart breaks, no fights or anything. But, currently he was captivated by that night at the party. His mind was fueled and inspired by the perfect and sad raven haired he talked to that night. She was so mysterious to him and so unknown; and with that, he picked up a pen and a paper and just decided to create. 

Gym period could be considered one of Brooklyn’s favorite times of the week, if not her favorite. She knew that at that period she finally got to move around and do something instead of sitting down in a silent classroom, pretending to work on an assignment when in reality she was thinking about what she wanted to have for lunch later. She also enjoyed the fact that most of the mean popular girls skipped gym. In Brooklyn’s mind she thought that those girls were too afraid of being hit in the face or ruining their hairstyles. 

Alison enjoyed it too, since she got to be away from the boys for a while, and got to have some girl time with her friend. They could talk about whatever they wanted. She liked the sports part as well, but just not as much as Brooklyn did. 

Both of the girls were currently sitting down and drinking water because they had a 5 minute break to regain their strength before continuing the volleyball match. 

The redhead had been playing violently and aggressively the entire match. It wasn’t only due to the fact that she had a lot of anger in her that she needed to get out, but she was also just built like that. Whenever she did something, she did it with an intense burning passion. That’s something she got out of both of her mothers. 

“I’m so glad you’re in my team. I wouldn’t wanna mess up my nose.” Alison said as she caught up with her breath.   
Brooklyn chuckled slightly and rolled her eyes playfully at her friend’s comment. She knew that she was playing more intensely than other times, but she loved it. 

“I’m serious, you’re on fire today.” Alison continued, making the girl smirk a bit. 

Brooklyn shrugged, “I guess that Victoria girl actually does something good.” 

Alison rolled her eyes and shook her head at what was said. Her friend was weird but she still loved her.   
She went on and continued stretching and drinking water so that she could regain her strength and energy to keep playing. Until she saw a tall blonde girl walking towards them. She recognized her quickly. Her name was Erika Shepherd. 

Neither one of the girls hung out with her before since the blonde was a junior and nobody in their group of friends really talked to her, but they all knew who she was. Most of their friends were Sophomores, just like themselves.

The blonde looked at the redhead’s direction and gave her a warm genuine smile. 

“Hey. Brooklyn, right?” She asked.

The redhead nodded in response. “Yep. That’s me.” 

Erika let out a sigh of relief. “Thank god. So, I’ve been watching you play today and I was wondering if you were interested in trying out for the football team?” 

The blonde looked at Brooklyn, hoping that she would accept the offer. She knew that the girl was good at a lot of sports, so naturally she would be great at football. 

“You mean like the bulldogs?” 

“Yeah, them.” 

Brooklyn hadn’t thought about joining the team before. Of course she knew that the school was really trying to have gender equality, so that everyone felt comfortable and welcomed. And, she also knew Erika’s mother was the first female bulldog to ever join. She was kind of a legend.

Alison looked at her friend, who was drifted off into her thoughts. She smacked Brooklyn on the back of her head. “Hello? Obviously she’ll try out.”

Erika laughed softly at the interaction and nodded, “Perfect. We need more girls in the team and I know you’re gonna be amazing, Brooklyn.”

Brooklyn smiled slightly and nodded. “Thanks. I hope so.”

“We’ll see you there then.”

And after that, Erika walked off back to her team. Brooklyn just sat there and watched her leave. 

“Dude, they’re so gonna accept you. I can’t wait to watch you on the field.” Alison smiled.

Brooklyn sat the quiet and thought about what had just happened. She wondered if she could actually do this. 

“Dude, I went over to his house to check on his mother. She didn’t even open the door.” Jackson told the bulldogs at the table.

They were all still shocked and obviously sad over the recent passing of their teammate Michael. It was so surreal how they had just seen him a few hours before he died. 

Ethan looked at Jackson and nodded slightly, “I became friends with him over the summer when I got here, and I would’ve never imagined that this was gonna happen, man.” 

“Yeah, I feel so bad for his mom. She is a single mother, and he was an only child. I could never imagine.” Another teammate said, trying to not get emotional as he talked. 

“So everyone is in for the car wash drive in, right?” Jackson asked the bulldogs and they all quickly accepted.

Ethan nodded in agreement and was about to add into that until he felt a soft poke on his shoulder. He turned around and found his little sister in front of him. 

“Hey, I need to talk to you about something.” She said.

She was alone, which was weird. She was normally with her two minions that followed her around like a pair of lost puppies, which meant that whatever it was it was serious enough for her to ditch her girls.

He got up from his seat and followed her over to an empty spot on the cafeteria. 

“What’s up?” He asked calmly.

His sister looked like she was trying to hard to hide her feelings, but he saw right through her. He saw her anxious.

Victoria had been filled with guilt for the past days with something she didn’t know if it was completely useless to even mention, cause she truly didn’t know. She also didn’t know how her brother was gonna react to it. 

“I don’t know if this connects to anything. And I know no one knows the cause of Michael’s death yet.” She began, trying to keep her cool, “But I saw him having a full blown argument with another guy at the party.”

Ethan gave her a serious look and shook his head. “Be careful with what you say around here. Lies can get you into sticky situations in this town, just like mom told us.”

Victoria looked at her brother in disbelief. She thought it was crazy that he didn’t believe her. 

“I’m not lying. I know what I saw…” 

He walked closer to his sister, getting more serious by the second. He wanted to prove his point and make her understand. That intimidated her the shorter girl a little bit.

“You’re imagining things, Victoria.” He said, looking down at her and not taking his eyes off of hers. “I’m not even surprised.”

Victoria rolled her eyes frustrated, “You know how mom told us that this town was crazy before, Ethan.” 

“Mom says a lot of things.” Ethan said, shrugging a bit. “You probably got drunk or something.” 

His sister shook her head in response, “You know that I barely drink.” 

“Yeah right, New York socialite.” Ethan said with a slight smirk, trying to lighten up the mood. “Since when did you become a detective? Leave that to that weird Ben kid.” 

That didn’t make Victoria feel any better. Her brother not believing her was like a bullet to her chest. She knew that Ethan could be like that sometimes, but it still hurt. She just looked away quiet. She didn’t know what to say anymore.

“I don’t really think that anyone harmed him, okay? If they had everyone would know by now. Just don’t get involved in whatever it is...” Ethan said, putting his hands on his sister’s arms that were crossed. He knew he had to quickly make it up to her or make her feel better at least before she could get mad and give him the silent treatment for a week.

“Seriously, V. Don’t worry about it.” He said, still not getting a good response from her, so he wrapped her arms around his sister. “But if it makes you feel any better, I got your back no matter what.” 

On their way to spanish class, both Fred and Alison talked about their plans of the day. Alison told him about how she was doing some paintings for her art class. It made her anxious presenting her work to her teacher, especially because she loved it and it was so personal to her. Alison didn’t take criticism very well. She thought that painting was an art that should let you express whatever you wanted freely. So, she obviously was nervous.

Fred told her about how he was basically gonna be training hard all the time since the try outs were coming in soon. He really wanted to be a part of the team. 

“Oh my god, did you know that Brooklyn is gonna try out too?” 

“She’s so gonna steal my thunder.” 

The beautiful dark skinned girl laughed softly at his comment. He was completely right. Brooklyn was really good at anything physical. The girl was an adrenaline junkie just like her mother Toni, so naturally she was amazing at it. 

The moment was interrupted by the girl’s boyfriend who came in and wrapped his arm around the girl and gave her a small kiss on the cheek. 

“What are we talking about?” The very tall fit blonde guy asked with a smile.

Allison looked over and gave him a smile, “Oh just how Brooklyn is gonna kick Fred’s ass. That’s all.”

The guy nodded quickly in agreement. “Oh yeah, I’ve seen Brooklyn in the field, she is really good. Very fast. She’s got it in the bag.”

Fred smiled shyly and nodded, he felt a bit uncomfortable having his friend’s boyfriend there. 

“Yeah she is the best.” The redhead said.

The blonde guy looked over at him, “Well, the offer is still there if you want it, Andrews.” 

The redhead was grateful for the offer but he knew how uncomfortable it would be to have Drew there trying to help him prepare for the tryouts. And, he also had his father to help him in whatever he needed. 

“Thank you, Drew.” He said with a small smile and a nod, but still he didn’t accept it.

Drew understood completely and just continued to talk to his girlfriend who was already tired of the sports conversation.

“So Drew are you coming to my art show soon?” The girl asked. She had been asking him for a few days and the blonde still wouldn’t give her a solid answer. It began to annoy her a lot, and it began to consume her as well. What could be more important than him supporting her in something she loved so much? 

Drew stayed quiet for a few seconds, trying to figure how to answer that. Then, the bell rang.

“I’ll give you an answer later, I gotta go.” The guy said quickly, trying to get that off his back. He gave her a kiss on the cheek quickly before he left. 

“Saved by the bell.” The girl said under her breath as she watched the blonde walk away. 

School was finally over for the day, and Brooklyn was so happy about it, especially since she had her plans to talk to her sister.

“So how was your first week?” The young female redhead heard her twin sister ask from the other line. 

They were both video chatting for the first time since Emma left town. They had both been busy since school had just started, which was sad to them because they loved and missed talking to each other so much. Brooklyn had been attached to her sister since the day they were born. She always followed her around everywhere and protected her like a good sister. While Emma was a little bit more independent. The brunette always knew what she wanted, and she was very ambitious. It was something that the redhead needed to work on more. Still, they were both so close. 

“Absolutely insane.” Brooklyn told her sister as she plopped herself on the bed. “First of all the Lodges are back.” 

Emma stopped doing her makeup as she heard that new piece of information and looked directly into the screen to see her sister.

“You’re not kidding?” She asked slightly confused. 

Brooklyn shook her head in response. “Nope. And, they’re so awful, Ems.”

The redhead went on to tell her sister all about the evil siblings. How they took over their school in less than a day, how Ethan had brainwashed Ava Jones into thinking he was a good person. Also how bratty and disrespectful they were to teachers, and that Victoria stole the vixens.

“Ems, you have to drop your pretty little fancy school and come home. They’re ruining everything.” Brooklyn continued to complain to her sister.

The brunette shrugged and continued on doing her eyeliner as she talked, “I’m sorry, Brook. That’s exactly why I wanted to leave. I don’t wanna be a part of their petty drama. I’ve never been better.”

“You’re letting me suffer!” Brooklyn said dramatically, turning her head to her laptop screen to watch her sister.

“I don’t wanna deal with high school drama. It’s so useless.” Emma told her sister, “You can’t let these kids affect you, B. I know they’re awful but, so what?” 

“They stole your vixens…”

“I don’t care about the vixens.” The brunette said with a slight smile, “High school is only for a bit, so enjoy it. Keep your friends close and don’t let these brats take control over your emotions.” 

The redhead laughed slightly and nodded. She completely agreed with what her twin sister was saying.

“A hundred miles away, a new time zone and you’re still wiser. I’ll try, Em.” She said as she looked into the screen, watching as her sister was almost finishing up her makeup.

The brunette smiled, “I’ve always been the wisest of the both, but promise me you’ll drop this and put your time and energy into something productive.” 

“I promise. Well, more like i’ll try.” 

Betty Jones quickly ran over to the front door and opened it quickly after it rang one time. She had been waiting for this moment for such a long time. She wanted it even more after she heard the rumors about her high school best friend being back in town after a few years. 

Once she opened the door, she saw three raven haired people standing on there. Both her friend and her freaked out and quickly embraced each other. They were so happy to see the other one after such a long time. 

“Oh my gosh, I’ve missed you so much!” Veronica said very excited.

Betty smiled and didn’t let go of her friend, “Me too! You look amazing, V.” 

Their hugs always felt so comforting and warm. It is exactly what they both needed. They felt like they could be in each other’s arms for an eternity, but eventually they pulled away. 

The blonde welcomed the other two young Lodges into her home as well, moving away from the door right after so they could walk in.   
As they all walked in they saw the entire family in the very inviting and warm living room that they all knew very well. 

“Jughead Jones.” Veronica said with a smile, after giving him a small hug. “It’s been a minute…” 

He smiled and nodded slightly in response. He couldn’t even remember that well the last time he saw the raven haired woman. It had been that long. It was Betty who kept in touch with her, since of course they used to be best friends. 

“It sure has. It’s good to see you, Veronica.” 

They suddenly brought their attention to a high pitched excited voice, who belonged to Betty and Jughead’s daughter. She ran over to Ethan’s arms and then her best friend, who happened to be Ethan’s sister. 

“Finally!” Ava said overly excited with a big smile on her face. She had been anxious and really looking forward for the Lodges to come. 

Veronica smiled as she saw the two girls mingling and laughing together. It brought her back to when her and the blonde would act like that back then. 

“They’re literally us, B.” The raven haired woman said to the older blonde. 

The younger girls looked so much like them, also acted a lot like them. Of course they had different personalities than their mothers, but still. It was so crazy to them that they had   
daughters who were about the same age, and now in the same school.

“Good old days, V.” 

Finally, they were all sitting in the big dining table, having an amazing time. They joked about their years together in Riverdale high and everything in between. They shared some details the younger generation wished they hadn’t heard like the time Veronica kissed both Betty at the cheer tryouts, or when she and Jughead kissed one time; her endless fights with her father own, and her power moves as a teen. They also shared some details about a certain male redhead that was very much a part of Veronica’s life. 

“So, how is Archie?” Veronica asked curiously. She tried not to sound concerned, even though she was. She heard some things from her best friend a while ago, but that was it. She didn’t know that much. 

Betty looked at Veronica and knew that she didn’t want to worry her. 

“He’s trying his best. Especially with Fred. But he is doing well, V.” The blonde responded. 

Veronica smiled and nodded slightly. “I heard he got divorced.” 

“Yeah, it was a mutual agreement between his ex wife and him. They just knew that they weren’t in love. But there’s no bad blood.” Betty explained. 

The room went silent after Betty talked. Especially the kids. They just sat there and listened to everything.

“Well, I’m happy for him. I’m glad he’s okay.” Veronica answered with a slight smile. 

She would be lying if she said she wasn’t curious to find out for herself if Archie was actually okay. But, she knew she had to stay out of it. The woman had a new life, a husband and her kids. She couldn’t dig into the past, because it scared her what could happen to her and everything she built up around her heart over the years as she tried to forget about the redhead. Her ex lover. She just hoped for his happiness. 

After a bit of talking to Ava for a while, Victoria decided to just let her brother step in and spend some time with the beautiful blonde. Her sister was very aware that her brother and Ava were in fact dating. So, she decided to just give them some alone time. She understood completely.

The raven haired walked around the halls of the house, looking at the old pictures of the Jones’ family. She saw some pictures that she thought were absolutely adorable of young Mr. and   
Ms. Jones while they were in high school. She also saw a few pictures of her own mother, a redhead, the blonde and a pink haired girl who she obviously recognized. They were all wearing the vixen’s cheer uniform and they looked so happy and beautiful. 

“That was before they admitted boys on the team.” She heard a guy’s voice say behind her, completely taking her off guard. 

She looked back and saw the one and only Benjamin Jones. Ava’s twin brother. 

“Gosh, you scared me.” She said as she looked at him and placed a hand over her heart, feeling how bast it was beating after being startled by him. 

“I honestly don’t know that many stories of my mom in high school. But, It was nice hearing some tonight.” The girl confessed, grabbing the gold portrait and giving the picture a good look. 

Ben couldn’t really relate to that. He knew a lot about her mom’s generation and some of the struggles they went through. Of course, Betty and Jughead decided to keep some things to themselves. Things that they knew were too hard to understand. While Veronica would keep a lot to herself. 

“Your mom was a legend. She had multiple businesses throughout her high school years. A power move.” Ben said with a sweet smile, trying to bring share some things with her.   
Victoria smiled and nodded slightly, “Sounds exactly like her.”

They stayed quiet for a while as they thought about their parents and their crazy years. It was too wild for them.

“My mom said that Riverdale changed her. For the better.” The young Lodge began, as she placed the picture back on its small coffee table. “I don’t know what she’s expecting of me but, I think this town is gonna make me crazy.” 

“What do you mean?” Ben asked curiously. 

Victoria turned around to face him as she talked. 

“My friend Sienna was kidnapped back in Miami. But we knew why, it was because her parents were drug traffickers.” She began to explain, “But here, no one knows why Michael died. Is it always like this here?” 

Ben stayed in silent for a bit, as he tried to think of a good answer. 

“It hasn’t happened in a while. No sudden deaths, really. Maybe this town isn’t as innocent as it was a couple of years ago. Maybe It’s coming back to its roots.” 

“Moving here was probably the worst idea. I should’ve gone with dad.” Victoria said to herself softly, forgetting that Ben was there as well. He listened always. 

“Why didn’t you though?” He asked curiously.

“His life is too agitated and busy. My mom’s is too, but at least she stays in the country.” She explained quickly. Victoria wasn’t someone that liked sharing details of her personal life, so whenever she did, she made sure to not give away too much. 

She looked down slightly annoyed, “And now i’m stuck in this hellhole.”

Ben laughed softly at her comment. She wasn’t completely wrong with that. Riverdale was either boring or insane. Never in between. 

“At least we still have some mystery. We gotta find out what happened to this kid.” The dirty blonde said. 

Victoria bit her lip as her heart began to beat faster again. She wanted to say something, but after that whole thing with her brother she didn’t know if it would be a good idea. But, she was tired of always having to keep secrets. She wanted to talk to someone. 

“I don’t know if this has anything to do with it but, I saw Michael at my party. He didn’t look happy.” She confessed. 

The boy looked at her, giving her fully his attention. 

She continued, “He was with some other guy having a heated argument. The guy was a lot older.” 

He stood there quiet as he thought about it and tried to put the pieces together in his brain. 

“Why didn’t you say anything?” 

She shrugged, “I don’t know… I didn’t think it would help.” 

She obviously lied. Her brother had expressed to her earlier that he didn’t want her to get involved in anything like that. But, she was tired of never being able to speak. She was done following orders like she had before. 

Ben looked into her eyes with compassion. He could feel that she was holding onto this information because of something.   
“I hate to ask you this but, could you come by maybe tomorrow. You would be a lot of help with this case.” Ben asked. 

He was hopeful that she would agree. 

“I don’t know… If my brother or my mom find out that I am getting into this-”

He quickly cut her off. “I wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t important, and I promise you we’ll keep your name out of it. We just wanna find out the truth. We need to know if this town is still safe.”


	3. Swimming with the Sharks

Pop’s Choc-lit Shoppe opened very early in the morning and closed very late at night. It was fortunate for most students that wanted to hang out before school or after. 

Currently, at the same booth next to the window sat the usual customers. The same group of friends that used that place as an escape, a place to meet or just a place to eat. Fred, Brooklyn, Ben, Allison and Mason sat there and enjoyed their breakfast as they began to discuss their plans for the day, besides school. Fred and Brooklyn had to go train for the tryouts since it was coming up. Mason had to continue working on his new music that he was really excited about, and everyone could definitely tell. Allison had to finish the last touches on her paintings, and Ben didn’t really have anything in his agenda, although he felt the need to continue his detective work and help his parent’s with it, especially since her sister was too focused on her cheerleading career and flirting to even care and give him a hand with that. 

Their conversation was interrupted as they heard the main door open. They all looked over, so not discretely and saw Veronica and Ethan Lodge walk inside the place. They really couldn’t hear the conversation, but they saw the two of them walk to the end of the cafe and open a door. Veronica closed it, and that’s all they saw. 

No one really knew what was exactly behind that door. Their parents would only tell them so much about it, and they only said it was a sort of private club that Veronica opened when they were in high school, but that was about it. They would be lying if they said that they weren’t interested and curious to find out what that secret club looked like. 

“That was random.” Brooklyn said, breaking the silence and slight tension in the room. 

Ben nodded, still looking at the door the owner of the property and her son had just walked into. 

“I really wanna know what’s in there.” Ben confessed. 

Mason looked way less interested than everyone else. “Why are you guys so invested in this? It’s probably some random bar.”

Everyone brought their attention back to their meals and milkshakes as they continued to discuss about what had happened. 

“You guys’ parents were wild. Why was some 17 year-old the owner of a bar, a cafe and a rum company?” Allison asked very confused. Allison had just moved to Riverdale about 3 years ago and she still couldn’t believe the crazy things that went on before she moved there. It made no sense. 

“I don’t know how our parents did what they did. I mean, my dad owned a boxing studio and fought a freaking bear by the time he turned 17.” Fred said before taking a sip of his chocolate milkshake. 

Everyone laughed at his comment. None of this made sense in their brains.

“But doesn’t your mother tell you details? I mean she was close to Veronica Lodge, right? Didn’t they had a rum business thing going on?” Ben asked the redhead.

Brooklyn just shrugged at the question. “My mom definitely keeps a lot from me. She’s so overprotective. But, my other mother though, she can spill the tea.” 

They all chuckled and laughed softly at that. They kept talking about some old crazy times. When everything was either more difficult or way easier. Little did they know everything was about to change. Their lives were gonna turn upside down. 

An hour later, it was finally time for something everyone disliked. School. Brooklyn walked through the hallways with a certain tall, female blonde. A member of the bulldogs. They had began to get closer and form a friendship as the days went on since they started to spend a lot of time together. Mostly in gym period and after school as the blonde helped Brooklyn   
prepare for the tryouts. 

“Hey, what are you doing on Friday night?” Brooklyn asked the girl.

Erika looked at her as they walked together to class, “Nothing really. Why?”

“You know there’s this movie being projected at the drive-in right? My friend is borrowing his dad’s truck and we’re gonna watch whatever cliché old movie they’re playing.” Brooklyn explained, slightly blushing as she did. “You can come if you want. We’re meeting at Pop’s.” 

The blonde smiled softly and nodded in response. She liked the idea of spending more time with her new friend. “Sure, sounds fun.” 

Brooklyn smiled and sighed in relief. She was happy that her friend could actually make it. She wanted to get to know her more, and wanted to return the favor since the blonde had been so nice and patient towards her. 

“I’ll see you at gym right?” The blonde asked, since she had to go into class.

The redhead nodded, “Yeah. I’ll see you there.”

She gave the blonde another smile before she left, making her cheeks the same shade of red as her hair. 

Brooklyn continued to walk over to class before she was joined by her other good friend. Mason. 

The brunette noticed how flushed her friend looked. He pieced it together after he saw the tall blonde walking away with a cheery smile. 

“What do we have here…” He said with a suspicious tone on his voice. “A very blushing, soft Brooklyn Topaz.” 

The redhead rolled her eyes and punched her friend in the arm, making him wince in pain since the girl was very strong.

“Shut up… I’m not soft…” She said annoyed. But, she was in fact soft.

Mason shook his head in denial. He knew her too well. “When are you asking her out?” 

“I don’t like her like that, Mase.” Brooklyn said. “A girl can’t have friends?” 

The brunette rolled his eyes playfully. “Of course she can… I’m just suggesting.”

“Friends, Mason. Friends...” Brooklyn told him, making sure he got it. “So shut your little sweet in tuned voice and get me a coke.” 

Mason chuckled lightly and guided the redhead over to the cafeteria. They were so gonna miss their first period, but they really didn’t care about history. 

At the other side of the school, a very calm Ben walked through the halls since he had a free period. All of his friends were in class so there wasn’t much for him to do, so he decided to head into the very lonely writing room that was meant for the school’s newspaper. 

On his way there, he saw this group of girls beside a locker. A locker that used to belong to Michael Farris. The locker was filled with flowers, candles, some letters that were probably never gonna be read and some other small things for the boy that passed away. 

He walked quietly so he could hear the girls’ conversation. Seeing if maybe that would give him some more clues. 

“He totally did deserve that.” He heard a girl say. 

Another voice spoke right after, “He was a pig. And so cruel to girls. He got what he deserved. Karma finally got him.” 

The girls noticed that there was someone walking over, so they went silent. The boy quickly felt awkward and finally opened the door and got in the room he had been trying to get to in the first place. 

Ben understood that people could be awful to other people. He didn’t know why though. The only thing he knew was that wishing for someone’s death is not right. Death isn’t something that should be taken lightly, no matter how awful the person was. Life teaches in mysterious ways, and sometimes it could do it like that. 

The infamous blonde and brunette duo entered to a room. It was finally time for something they liked. Theater. Besides having cheerleading being a big part of their school lives, they also had theater taking up space in it as well. It was something they both enjoy, and they were both excited for the first theater club meeting. 

They both talked to each other about random things as they walked in the room, completely ignoring the other kids that were already there. 

“I’m so excited for friday. It’s gonna be our first official date.” The blonde said with a big bright smile. 

The raven haired smiled at her best friend’s happiness. Even if she knew her friend was dating her brother she had to be supportive of that. 

“You’re both finally gonna get rid of me.” She said with a teasing smile.

Ava chuckled playfully at the girl. “But you’re going with your guy. So don’t complain here, V.” 

The girl sighed softly and nodded. “True. But it isn’t as fun though. I can’t really say how hot Leonardo DiCaprio is when i’m around him.” 

“Boys are lame…” Ava rolled her eyes, earning a nod from her friend.

“True.” 

Victoria’s eyes wandered around the room, looking at who had joined the club as well. There were a lot of kids she didn’t know and a particular brunette she did recognize. It was that bathroom guy from her party. 

She smiled slightly as the guy also looked up and saw her as well. She walked over to him and the blonde followed quickly. 

“Hey… I didn’t know you were into this stuff.” Victoria told him and smiled.

The brunette nodded slightly, “Oh yeah, i’m such a fan. Don’t tell anyone.” 

“I’m pretty sure they’ll know by opening night.” The blonde said, trying to get into the conversation as well. She hated not being a part of the moment. 

Victoria looked over to her friend and then at the guy in front of them. 

“Oh, sorry. This is Ava, my best friend.” She began to introduce them. “Ava, this is Mason.”

Both of them greeted each other. They kind of knew each other but they had never talked really. Mason just knew that Ava was Ben’s twin sister. Before they could say anything else, they were interrupted.

Another loud voice spoke, getting the attention of all the kids in the room. It was the teacher, he got up on stage and looked into where everyone was. 

“Gather around, please.” The teacher said, as he held his notepad and waited for everyone to take a sit. 

He was a very tall brunette man, with a very refined and slightly soft voice. He was very good looking and put together. Definitely gay. 

“My name is Kevin Keller, and I am gonna be the director and teacher of this theater club.” He began to introduce himself. 

Everything began to make sense in Ava’s and Victoria’s brains. Of course they had heard numerous stories about their mothers and their new teacher. He was definitely a cool guy. Very into drama and acting. They knew that after Kevin graduated from college, he did some projects here and there, but eventually he went back to Riverdale. He loved teaching, especially something he loved so much. 

“I’m still figuring out what musical we’re gonna do this semester but, I have some ideas.” He continued, “But for now we’re gonna get working on everything else before we start preparing the project. Now everybody, up.”

Both Ava and Victoria exchanged looks. Then, they looked around the room and saw that they didn’t really knew anyone else, besides Mason. This was gonna be a long period for them.

Ben and Brooklyn, one of his best friends walked over to their next period, which was Chemistry. They were both quiet, which was unusual for them. They would always talked non-stop,   
ever since they could literally speak as toddlers. They were quiet due to the fact that both of them were in their head, thinking about their current situations and things they had to solve on their own. Normally they would share things and secrets, but this time was different, it was personal. Eventually they knew they had to share, but for now they wanted to understand and figure it out before telling the other. 

Ben was currently thinking about the whole Michael Farris death and theories. It was all he could think about day and night. How to solve this, how to find more hints to that mystery, and even if it was a mystery. He still didn’t know if it was a big deal or it was just one of those normal deaths that don’t really have an explanation but aren’t so tragic either. 

Brooklyn on the other hand was thinking about everything in her life. All the changes that were currently happening, the good and the bad. The things she was starting to get over with, like her sister’s move. Things that were still making her anxious, like the football tryouts. And some other things that made her hopeful and somewhat nervous, like her friendship with Erika. 

They knew that they would find a good time to sit down and discuss everything happening in their lives, but now wasn’t a good moment to do it. So with that, they just started to talk about random things, since they were already tired of the silence.

“So…” The redhead began, “How was dinner with the nightmare children?”

Brooklyn was aware that the Lodges had visited the Jones’ the night before. Everyone in school had known that thanks to Ava Jones’ ability to never being able to keep anything to herself, especially when she was very excited. 

“It’s wasn’t as bad as I thought.” Ben told her, “The only thing that annoys me is how devoted Ava is to the Lodges.”

Brooklyn chuckled slightly at his answer. “I hope your sister grows out of it. She probably will.” 

Ben nodded slightly. He knew that probably wouldn’t happen anytime soon but, it was his sister’s life and he wanted her to live it as she wanted to, even if he didn’t support her decisions. 

“What about you?” He asked, “Have you told Emma about your new friend?” 

The redhead bit her lip slightly and shook her head in response.

“God no. Why can’t you guys just let me have a friend. Yeah, we hang out a lot but, so what?” 

Ben chuckled at the redhead’s reaction and how defensive she got after asking a simple question. 

“Nothing, you’re just fun to mess up with.” He said with a mischievous smirk on his face, making the girl punch his arm. It was something she did whenever one of her friends did anything to annoy her or call her out. 

“What about you, little Ben?” She asked, “When are you finally gonna date?” 

Before Ben could answer he saw someone entering the writing room quickly, basically at the speed of light. He quickly remembered he had places to be at. 

“Gotta go, talk later.” Ben said, quickly leaving as well. 

The redhead rolled her eyes as she watched the dirty blonde walk away so quickly. 

“Yeah, go ahead! Avoid the question like always!” She yelled across the halls so he could hear. 

After a few seconds, her other two friends joined her. They also were confused on what had happened. They all watched as Ben left quickly.

“What’s going on with him?” Fred asked.

The female redhead shrugged and shook her head slightly. “Always avoiding the question.” 

“Guys, let’s just not pressure him. Maybe he’s just not ready for that yet. And that is totally okay.” Allison told them. She had always been the voice of reason in their group.  
They all nodded and kept walking over to their classes. They still thought that Brooklyn asking him that question was the reason for him to quickly walk off. They had no idea what was happening behind the scenes. 

“I honestly don’t think my memory is that great. I’m just gonna be a waste of your guys’ time.” A slightly anxious Victoria said while sitting in a chair in front of Ben and his parents.

They were currently in the writing room. It was the only place in school no one ever went to and it was fitting as well, since they were all writing, except the raven haired who was just gonna speak. 

Victoria had agreed to try to explain what she saw at the party. They all hoped that it would help them continue their investigation and bring some more information that maybe they didn’t know about before. There isn’t such a thing as too much research.

The blonde woman looked up to see the girl in front of her. She knew that maybe the girl was a bit nervous, even if she didn’t act like it. She was also aware of the fact that Veronica didn’t want any of her children to get involved in anything dangerous like she had back then, so she wanted to make it as comfortable as she could for the young girl. 

“Anything helps, Victoria. And we appreciate that you came here.” The woman said with a slight warm smile. “You can begin when you like. I’ll ask you some questions.”

Victoria nodded in agreement, letting her know that she was ready to begin the interrogation. 

“You claim you saw Michael having an argument with someone at your party. Do you remember seeing this man’s face? Or can you describe him to us?” Betty asked the girl.

The Jones’ all looked at the raven haired as she looked into a wall, trying to remember as much as she could. 

Victoria licked her lips before she began, “It’s all kind of a blurr, but he was really tall. Taller than Michael, and he used to be very tall. He was wearing all black.” 

All of them began to write down the young Lodge’s descriptions so they wouldn’t forget, and they could discuss later.

She continued, “I couldn’t see his face very well since he had a giant hood covering a lot of his face.”

Jughead immediately looked over at his wife. She looked calmed, but he knew that deep inside she was disturbed by that description. It brought back so many memories. Memories she tried to bury a long time ago, and they were coming back to surface. 

“Definitely looked older.” Victoria said, “Very pale skin. That’s all I can think of right now. It’s really blurry.” 

Betty nodded slightly. She knew that memories sometimes came in after time, but still they had made so much progress from the girl’s descriptions, but still she was gonna wait a little more to see if the girl could maybe remember more. 

“Thank you for that, we really appreciate it. If you get something feel free to tell us at any time, okay?” Betty said with a warm smile, earning a small smile from the girl. “And if you need anything, we’re here.”

The raven haired got up from her seat and nodded. “I’ll let you know. Good luck.” 

And with that, the young Lodge left the room. Leaving behind the very concerned and hungry family. 

The blonde looked down at her paper, reading over everything that the girl had described of this man. Everything started hitting her at once. 

A black hood.

“Do you think-” She began, but immediately her husband cut her off.

He shook his head, “No. It can’t be Betty. He was buried, remember? Penelope Blossom shot him. We saw it.” 

“Jug. I don’t know. Penelope always found a way.” Betty said slightly frustrated, walking over to the big window. She felt like she needed some air and a lot of explanations. This had just gotten way more difficult

“What? Blossom?” Ben asked confused. “As in the grandma that Brooklyn never met?” 

Both Jughead and Betty looked over at their son. They had screwed up. They totally forgot that he was still in the room. 

“Ben, this is something Brooklyn’s mother decided to keep away from her. Please promise you won’t say anything.” Betty basically begged. She felt awful, but she knew her son was mature and trustworthy. 

Ben nodded, earning a sigh of relief from Betty. 

“You should go to class son.” Jughead told him.

The young Jones knew that their parents needed some time alone to talk, especially since his mother now looked disturbed after the raven haired left. He picked up his bag and quickly left the room. 

Jughead quickly went over to his wife’s side and wrapped an arm around her. He knew that at this time she needed a shoulder to lean on, so he stayed there for a few seconds before they finally began to talk.

“Betty, it can’t be him. He died.” He said, hoping that that would calm his wife down. 

She just looked into the window. She was already more calmed than before but still. Her mind was spiralling. She thought about every scenario possible on how this could actually be true.

“Does anyone actually die in this town?” 

After Hiram Lodge passed away, his will was mostly passed down to Veronica. She inherited almost everything. Properties, money, businesses, and everything in between. No matter how much they fought and were each other’s rivals, deep inside they definitely loved each other. Blood is thicker than anything, they say. Hiram had a very soft spot for Veronica, and she did as well. But, the love a father had for a child was incomparable to anything. 

One of the most important properties (according the the people of Riverdale.) That Veronica inherited was the twilight drive-in. She remembered the day he had bought it, everyone was upset. It was a cool place that people really liked. Thankfully, her father didn’t do anything major to that land. It was mostly empty. As soon as she found out about this, she gave it away as a wedding gift for her best friend Betty and her husband Jughead, who was extremely grateful and happy. 

The couple decided to turn that piece of land back into what it used to be. The drive-in theater Jughead loved so much growing up. It was his favorite place in the entire world. And now, it was back to how it was a few years ago. Nothing could be better. 

Titanic was being played at the drive-in. It was one of Betty’s favorite films. She loved the suspense, the romance and the insane amount of drama. It was also a classic. Who doesn’t love Titanic?

The only downside to the drive in is that since there’s a lot of people in there, it’s a good place for a lot of different things to happen at the same time. Currently, Jackson Jones was hiding at the back of the projection room with some of his friends.

They were waiting for their secret dealer to bring them some of the items that they wanted to buy. They felt like they needed Reversion. It was finally back in stock. They had discussed it with him a day prior and they decided to meet up there, since their dealer also had other deliveries to make in that same place, that same night.   
Once he got there, everything was quick and quiet since they didn’t want to get caught. Jackson gave him the money and the guy just gave him his merchandise quickly. After that, he was gone. They didn’t exchange a single word. 

Jackson’s friends all cheered as quietly as they could, and each grabbed a small pouch.

“Thank god. This movie is so goddamn boring.” A tall brunette, olive skinned guy said. He was Lorenzo, one of Jackson’s friends. He quickly opened the small pouch. 

Jackson nodded in agreement, “This whole day is shit.” 

He poured some of the red, thin dust on his palm and looked over at his 4 other friends that were doing the exact same. 

Lorenzo looked at all of them and smirked slightly.

“Enjoy the ride.”

As everyone else watched the movie, Ben decided to stay in the projection room to figure this out. This mystery was taking over his brain and he wanted answers. He needed them. Instead of joining his friends like a normal teenager to enjoy a movie night, he was back there, looking through yearbook photos, doing his research on Michael’s father. 

It was frustrating to him that no one knew anything about this. They were taking forever with that autopsy. Not that his parents would allow him to even go there, but still, he wanted to know everything. There was only so much he could do. 

After digging in more in the depths of the internet, he found out that Michael’s father, who’s named John Farris lived somewhere in New York. Ben quickly wrote that down in his notepad and continued on his research. This was gonna be important for his parents’ research. 

Not that the movie wasn’t interesting but he was so focused on this. Nothing around him mattered at the moment. 

The group of friends sat at the back of Archie’s very large truck. It was really big so they had a lot of space in there, especially now that some of their friends were hanging out elsewhere but also in the same place. 

They were barely even watching the movie. They had been messing around ever since it started playing. Fred kept teasing Brooklyn so much that her face would turn the same shade of red as her fiery hair, but Erika really liked seeing the girl like that. It was adorable. 

Mason kept trying to have a normal conversation with Brooklyn’s friend, both redheads were making so much noise that they could barely even make a sentence. People had already shushed them a couple of times, but still, they didn't seem to care. They were having a good time. Even though three people from their group were missing. 

“If you plan on being Brooklyn’s friend I need to warn you.” Fred began, looking over at the blonde sitting next to his friend. 

Brooklyn quickly put her hand on Fred’s mouth, trying to get him to stop talking. “Shut up! No you don’t.” 

She then felt Fred lick her hand. She quickly screamed and punched his shoulder. 

“That is so gross!” She yelled as she began to giggle softly. 

Mason rolled his eyes playfully and looked at the blonde, who was laughing at what had happened. 

“All the time.” He told Erika, “They’re literally siblings. They fight over everything but especially over Emma.”

The blonde looked confused. And slightly sad upon hearing that. She didn’t know who that girl he was talking about was. Or what relationship she had with both the redheads.

“Oh, who’s Emma?” She asked, looking over at the pair of redheads who were still fighting each other like little kids who just stole a candy from the other.

Brooklyn looked over at her, “Oh, just my annoyingly perfect twin sister.” 

Erika looked relieved after she had that clarity. She obviously felt the tension with Brooklyn, but didn’t exactly know where the redhead’s head was at. But, that revelation definitely brought some peace back in her mind. 

Mason noticed all of that. Every single expression on Erika’s face throughout the whole conversation. He was really good at reading people. And he was looking forward to talking to Brooklyn about it. 

“Babe, I know you’re probably tired of hearing me ask about this but, I really do need to know if you’re coming to my art show.” A very concerned Allison said to her boyfriend.

Drew had been avoiding that question for basically an entire week. 

His girlfriend was almost reaching a breaking point. It was such a simple question with a yes or no answer. She didn’t understand what was the big deal about answering it. 

“Alli, I really don’t know if I can.” Drew said, still keeping his eyes on the screen. He wasn’t really giving her answer and she was aware of that.

That’s when Allison realized that she was exhausted of it. The anxiety that her boyfriend was giving her was so unnecessary and it could be avoided. So, she decided to end that.

“You know what, don’t come.” Allison said in a serious tone, looking away.

That got Drew’s attention, and he looked over at her. He knew she was upset.

“What do you mean?” He asked.

She looked over at him and shook her head. “I don’t want you to come. You’ve been clearly avoiding coming, so you don’t wanna go.”

“No, it’s not that.”

“So what is it?”

Drew just sat there in silence. He really didn’t have a good explanation for his girlfriend so, he thought it was better to keep it quiet. For Allison, that was a huge mistake.

Instead of watching the movie in silence to understand it and to take it all in like normal people, Ethan and Ava just sat in the car and criticized every single thing in the film that they found to be ridiculous. Things like Rose potentially jumping out of the ship, and both of the main characters having sex just like that. There were things that they thought they were too dramatic, and would never happen in real life.

“I seriously don’t understand why girls cry with this movie.” Ava chuckled as she looked at the screen. 

Ethan nodded in response. He never got why her sister liked this movie so much. Whenever they watched it, he ended up getting bored and leaving the room. 

“I know right. There’s so much room for both Jack and Rose in that thing.” He said. “Women can be so selfish sometimes.” 

Ava laughed at his comment, obviously knowing he was joking due to the tone in his voice.

“Oh, so we’re selfish?” 

Ethan nodded and looked at the girl. 

“Damn right. All we do is treat you girls like the queens you are.” He said with a slight smirk, making Ava melt inside. 

“You do?” She asked, looking deeply into Ethan’s warm brown eyes. 

He nodded as he began to move closer to her, making her heart start beating faster and faster by the second. 

“We do.” He said softly, “We see the precious girl right in front of us. And we’d do anything for them.” 

They were so close that they could feel their breaths against each other as they noses touched. In a matter of seconds, they both melted into each other, closing the gaps as they engaged in a soft warm kiss. 

She felt that everything inside of her fluttered as he held her even closer as she kissed him back. He felt like a very lucky guy to just be in her calming and enchanting presence. 

Ava ran her fingers through the brunette’s soft but thick hair as they continued to kiss. She loved the feeling of being in his arms, and she never wanted that to ever end. Ethan loved how innocent and fresh it was. That was something new. 

It was so perfect and right for them. They had both found a very special new place. Each other. 

Victoria was paying attention to every single scene and detail of this movie. She loved it so much, especially because her grandma would watch it with her whenever she was visiting them, and her mother had a business meeting. It really brought her back to that simple time in her life. 

Carter, her boyfriend, in the other hand was tired of the film, and couldn’t wait for it to be over. He was just there for her, since he knew how badly she wanted to go to that. He kept playing on his phone as his girlfriend rested her head on his shoulder, watching the film peacefully. 

“Give me a sec.” He said softly. “This movie is too long, I need something.”

The raven haired looked over at him as he reached under his seat. She saw a shiny small bottle of something. As he opened it, the intoxicating smell of an intense alcohol hit her that she wanted to just pass out right there. 

He put the bottle on his lips and began to drink, just like that. Victoria looked over at him, obviously not happy with that.

“Are you being serious right now, Carter?” She asked, not taking her sight of off him as he continued to drink.

He stopped so he could look at her. He quickly swiped his mouth dry with his sweater ad he handed over the bottle to her. “I’m so sorry. You want some?” 

The raven haired looked at him not content at all. Her mind was in denial. 

“How are you supposed to drive me home after drinking?” 

Carter sat closer to her, he definitely didn’t like it when she was serious. 

“It’s not a big deal, I drive like this all the time and it has never happened.” 

She began to massage her temples softly. This conversation and his stupidity was stressing her out. She couldn’t believe it.

“So, you drive like this when I’m with you too?” 

He shook his head. “Not always, just sometimes.” 

The Lodge looked even more disturbed upon hearing that. She thought that it was dangerous and not right to do such thing. Not only could you hurt someone you care about, but you could actually die. 

“You’re unbelievable.” She said, shaking her head as she began to look for her bag under the passenger seat. 

He knew that she was gonna leave at any moment, so he grabbed her arms and pulled her closer.

“Come on, this is so stupid.”

She tried to get his arms off of her, but of course he was way stronger than her. He was a bulldog and trained like 5 hours a day. 

“Damn right, it is stupid. Seriously, how could you do that?” 

Carter now looked annoyed. He didn’t like that his girlfriend couldn’t see his point of view.

“Why do you have to ruin everything?” 

“Oh, I ruin everything?” She asked, looking at him in disbelief. She was offended by how he was being.

“Yes. Why are you so boring? Live a little.” He said, finally letting go off the girl.

She quickly opened the door and stepped out of the car. She rolled his eyes and looked at him one last time. 

“Yeah, that’s exactly what i’m doing.” She said, before shutting the door and walking away from Carter’s car. 

This night hadn’t gone the way she expected it. She was tired, upset and alone now. As much as she needed her best friend now. The blonde was hanging out with her brother, and she couldn’t bother them right now. 

Carter just watched his girl walk away from him. He rolled his eyes and continued to drink, not caring about anything that she had just said to him.

“Enjoy your stupid movie.” He said under his breath. 

Still, Victoria picked her mood and soul back up and walked over to meet Amber so they could watch the movie together in the girl’s car. Amber was hanging out with a guy she was starting to date but of course friends always came first so she didn’t mind at all. 

As the young Lodge walked over, she heard some loud kids whose voices sound familiar. Immediately she knew that was better than being stuck with her friend and her crush. She needed some fun. She walked over to the big truck and saw that the was a lot of space there. It was perfect. When a door closes, another one opens so, she walked towards them. 

The group of friends noticed the brunette approaching them, so they all got quiet as they tried to figure out what her move was gonna be. 

“Make some room, people.” She said in a demanding tone. She was getting her charm and spirit back. 

They all looked confused at the girl as they spread out, waiting to see where the girl wanted to seat. They didn’t know why Victoria wanted to hang out with them, but they definitely wanted to find out.

“What?” She asked confused. “You’ve never had good looking people ever hang out with you all before?” 

She looked at the group of three in front of her for a few seconds as she tried to decide where she wanted to seat. It was scary and crazy how Victoria had some real crazy instincts, and could read people easily. She could smell fear and feel tension in the blonde’s face. She had never seen the girl before but she decided to seat in between her and Brooklyn. 

The redhead looked extremely confused, while the blonde was obviously not happy about Victoria’s decision. But she definitely didn’t wanna start on the wrong foot with her. She had heard about the evil brunette barbie from Brooklyn before.

As the Lodge got comfortable in her spot, she gave Mason a small smile. He was basically the only one she kind of liked from that group. He had been nice to her.

“Hey, Mason.” She said softly. 

He smiled back at the girl, “Hey. How’s it going?” 

The brunette rolled her eyes slightly and looked over at the screen. “Ugh, would rather not talk about it. Where’s your other elf looking friend?”

Brooklyn rolled her eyes at the comment. She couldn’t understand how the girl had the audacity to say those things, even if they were jokes. 

“He is….” He began, but before he could finish Fred was back to answer her question. “Here…”

Fred looked surprised as he saw the girl. He didn’t know how that could happen in less than 4 minutes, but he wasn’t mad about it.

“Oh, hey Victoria…” He said, climbing on his father’s truck and sitting down on the only spot left, next to Brooklyn. “What a nice surprise. What brings you here.”

Victoria faked a smile and looked over at the redhead, “Actually, my dumbass boyfriend, but anyways. Not important.” 

Mason looked concerned after the girl confessed that. He had heard her complain about her boyfriend before. He knew it wasn’t his place, but he felt the need to help her out. 

They all really didn’t know this girl, but they knew that she was very reserved, so for her to say something personal, it was odd.

“I’m sorry to hear that. Do you wanna talk?” He asked, looking at the girl.

The girl smiled a bit and shook her head, wanting to give off the vibe that it wasn’t a big deal.

“No, I’m fine.” She said, stealing a twizzler from Brooklyn’s hand. 

Brooklyn looked at the brunette, “Hey. I was gonna eat that.” 

“Were… You have like 5 left.” Victoria responded carelessly as she began to eat the skinny, red candy stick. 

Fred felt a different type of way around the brunette, but it wasn’t because of how mean she could be sometimes. It was because of their parent’s history. He didn’t even know if the young Lodge was aware of everything that went on between Archie and Veronica, and how intense it was. But, it made him feel a type of way he couldn’t understand. 

Erika was in disbelief of what was currently happening. She could feel her jealousy rising up, especially now that she wasn’t the center of attention in Brooklyn’s mind. The blonde felt the need to remind Brooklyn that she was there still, so she wanted to try.

“Hey, Brook. Guess what?” She began softly, looking over at the redhead. “I signed up for Theater Club.” 

The redhead looked over and smiled a bit, “Oh cool…” 

Erika nodded, “Yeah… Maybe you can join too. And we can do it together.”

Victoria rolled her eyes and before Brooklyn could say anything, she looked over at the blonde. 

“We get it, Juliet…” The brunette began annoyed. “Now, do you mind? Di Caprio is speaking.”

The blonde wanted to defend herself but she was too afraid of the evil barbie. They all kind of were, except Brooklyn. She was tired of her and her attitude, but she remembered her sister’s words. 

Put your energy in something productive. Brooklyn thought to herself.

Brooklyn was basically swimming with the sharks, but tried her best to not get caught up in all the drama. She decided to not let that affect her. She hoped that whatever the brunette did wouldn’t affect her anymore. She was so wrong. 

After long days and very tiring nights of training they asses off, it was finally time for the football tryouts. A lot of thoughts ran into both of the redheads’ mind. They were nervous, anxious and excited all at the same time. They also were hopeful that they would both make it into the team. They knew they had a lot of good things to bring into the table, and that was all they wanted to think about at the moment. They tried to push their negatives thoughts as further as possible, because with that mentality you will only get into your head, and it won’t help with anything. 

Every single member of the team was there to help out with the try outs. They had already gone through some of their training courses before they would go on with their final challenge which would be a match. It would determine whether they make it into the team, or would have to try again next year. 

Both Brooklyn and Fred performed amazingly throughout the whole day of trials. Even if they didn’t make it they were proud of leaving it all in the field, and they were also proud of each other. They had worked so hard for this. 

The coach let them all have a water break so that he could have some time to think about his decision. 

Brooklyn sat down next to Fred and Erika as they waited, trying their best to be patient. The female redhead was drinking basically her entire bottle of extremely cold water before she heard the coach called her name. 

“Topaz. Amazing in the field. You’re in.” The coach said.

Brooklyn felt like she was basically on cloud nine, and no one could bring her down from there. Both of the very sweaty girls embraced each other happily. They didn’t care about the sweat, they were just so happy.

The coach looked over at the other redhead, who was extremely nervous. “Andrews. Some things to work on, but i’m impressed. You’re in too.” 

Fred let out a sigh of relief as he heard that he was gonna be a bulldog. He knew his father was gonna be proud, which made him happier. 

Both redheads and the blonde sat on the bench as they quietly celebrated their great achievement, as they left the coach to continue on.

After the coach was done rejecting and welcoming people into the team, he walked over to the co-captain of the team, Jackson Jones. 

Jackson had been way more distracted in the game, he wasn’t performing as well as he did when he joined, and the coach was beginning to notice. He didn’t know the reasoning behind this, but he knew he had to warn Jackson about some consequences, so he could work harder and get better like he once was before. 

“Jones… I know you’ve been amazing throughout the years, and I don’t know what’s happening to you.” Coach Maren began, putting an arm around the guy’s back and patting it. 

Jackson was taken by surprised. He didn’t know what to tell him or how to lie to him, so he stayed quiet.

“You were the star. I need you to get better Jackson or someone can take your place.” The older man warned the tall guy. “I’m only gonna warn you once. I’m not gonna feel sorry if I need to take that shirt from you.” 

Jackson nodded slightly since he obviously understood. With that, the coach left a very angry and annoyed guy behind. He couldn’t believe that he had been the favorite since he started high school, and now the coach was threatening him. 

Jackson heard a slight chuckle from someone approaching him. He turned around and saw no one other than Carter. 

“Keep doing your little drugs, Jones.” Carter said with a mischievous smirk on his face. “Just leave, man. You will do us a favor.”

Jackson tried to remain composed as he heard that. He turned around and began to walk away. He didn’t need this, especially not from the other co-captain who used to be his friend before. 

“Yeah, walk away like the coward you are.” Carter said. He knew exactly what he was doing. He wanted to get him worked up, and cause trouble. That was the kind of person Carter was. 

“You’re slacking. We don’t need your weak ass.” The brunette said at last before he was forced to be quiet.

Jackson turned around and punched Carter across the face. He wanted to end him right then and there. He was tired of him. And before everyone knew it they began to fight each other intensely. There was some blood, punches and bruises forming.

“You probably killed your own best friend, psychopath!” Carter yelled carelessly at the blonde as they were both separated by the coach and the bulldogs. 

The brunette quickly pushed everyone away and walked off, not turning back. 

Jackson stood there in disbelief of what had just happened. Everything happened so quickly, and he didn’t even know why he attacked Carter like that. It’s like his body took over his mind. 

For the first time Jackson Jones really wondered if he actually had anything to do with his best friend, Michael Farris’ death.


	4. The House of Chaos

It was dark as the night. And very cold like winter, even though it was already the beginning of september. The weather around town was already changing in the early mornings, and very late at night. While, in summer it was completely hot all through the day and night.  
As they opened their eyes, they noticed a bright light that was settling in the sky, making the darkness around it fade slowly, meaning the sun was rising. It was the first thing they thought of as they woke up. 

Jackson’s head was pounding so hard, so fast. He felt like his brain was gonna explode in any moment. He wanted to die then and there. He looked around, seeing some of his friends waking up too, getting up from the cold and dirty ground. They saw that they were in the woods, and they were confused.

He tried to remember the events that had happened the night before, but there was nothing he could remember. All he knew is that he and his friends were at the drive-in the night before. They bought some drugs and other things, and after that, it was blank. 

Everyone felt the same way, like their heads were gonna explode. They tried to compose themselves since basically all of them needed to think of a good explanation for their respective guardians and parents. Who do you tell your dad or mom that you woke up in the woods with no explanation? You don’t, of course. They tried to figure something out.

As they all tried to think of a good lie they could all tell their parents, they noticed that a member of their group of friends was missing. Lorenzo. They took a few minutes to look around the place to see if they could find him. But there was no luck. All they knew is that they had a crazy night, and he was probably either home, or with someone else. So, they didn’t make anything out of it. They didn’t look for more. And boy, that was a huge mistake. 

Enjoy the ride.

Cheryl felt a pair of arms wrap her waist around which made her heart flutter so much. It was one of the best feelings in the world, especially since it was her favorite arms, from her favorite girl. Her wife smiled, and kissed her wife’s rosy cheek as she continued to do what she was doing. 

“Babe, I’m gonna burn the pancake if you keep distracting me.” She said with a small chuckle, as she flipped the pancake with her spatula. 

Toni smirked slightly at the comment and went on to plant small pecks on the redhead’s neck. 

“Good thing I like your food even when it’s burnt.” The brunette said with a snarky tone in her voice. 

Cheryl rolled her eyes playfully at the comment. “You’re so annoying.” 

“And you absolutely love it, baby.” Toni told her, placing another kiss on the girl’s pale neck before heading into the kitchen island to grab an apple from the big fruit plate. 

Then, the only daughter in the household, finally walked downstairs, early like always. Brooklyn didn’t take a long time to get ready, unlike her sister. She always preferred sleeping over putting a little more effort into her appearance for school. Not that she needed, she was naturally beautiful. 

“There’s my little champ.” Toni said with a smile, as she walked over to her daughter to wrap her arms around her. “I’m so proud that you got into the team, baby.” 

The younger redhead smiled in response. “Me too. I’m really excited for the season to start.” 

“It’s coming really soon. And we’re attending to every single game to support our baby.” Toni said, unwrapping her arms from her daughter to let the girl sit and have her breakfast before school.

Cheryl smiled as she passed her daughter the plate filled with pancakes and fruit she had prepared for her. Brooklyn had a big appetite and a very fast metabolism, so she made sure to give her enough food, especially now that the girl was training. 

“Although I hoped that you would follow the vixen tradition, i’m really proud of you, sweetheart.” Cheryl said with a loving smile, “I admire that you’re following your aspirations. Even if you come sweaty after practice.” 

Toni nodded in agreement. She knew that no matter whatever their daughters chose to do, they would always be supportive. Especially since her and her wife never got that support and love growing up from a parental figure. They didn’t ever want that for their kids. 

“I’m glad that the football team is now allowing girls. And that the cheer squad is allowing boys.” The brunette said with a smile, “Times have really changed, haven’t they?” 

“Of course, my love. It’s amazing.” Cheryl said.

Toni sat down next to her daughter, as her wife went on to cook the rest of the pancake mix she had left. Hoping that she wouldn’t burn anything. 

“God, I wish the bulldogs allowed girls in when I went to school. I would’ve never been a cheerleader.” Toni confessed. 

Cheryl looked over at the girls and shot her wife a look. “Hey! That hurts...You were in my squad.” 

Toni chuckled softly at the older redhead’s reaction to her words.

“Yeah, but cheerleading was so not my thing. I didn’t really like it.” She explained. 

The redhead smiled slightly, “Yeah, but you did like seeing my ass in those tiny shorts.” 

“Worth it.” The brunette answered 

Brooklyn squirmed in her seat as she heard that. Then rolled her eyes at her mothers. “Mom! not in front of my pancakes!”

Both of the older women laughed at their daughter’s reaction. They loved teasing their girls around like that. Parenting was the best journey they had been in. And having their girls was the best decision they ever made. 

Allison Smith had been into painting and drawing ever since she was a little kid. She remembered when she used to paint the walls in her family’s small apartment when she was very young. How her mother freaked out because they didn’t exactly own that apartment and the family was short on money. But she was shocked at what her daughter could do with just some crayons and a blank space. It didn’t mean that she didn’t ground her daughter for it, but she couldn’t deny that Allison was very talented. 

The little girl would always ask her parents for some art supplies every single birthday. It was all she wanted, a way to express herself. Once her parents started earning more money, they finally bought her a big canvas, some brushes, various bright colors and a notepad. It was the little girl’s favorite gift of all time. She taught herself how to paint and draw flawlessly. It wasn’t an easy thing, but it was definitely worth it.

Currently, she was standing in her very first art show. For the past years she had been perfecting her works and saving up to make one of her dreams come true, and she was living in it. She couldn’t be more happy but also anxious for it. 

Her group of friends were there to support her. They all knew that this was a very big deal to her, and it was so important to her. She had worked for years and years to make sure that this moment would be perfect, and that her paintings were the exact way she wanted them. She had done an amazing job with them. The room was filled with beautiful, complex and huge paintings that she had done all by herself. 

The room was also filled with a lot of people she didn’t exactly know, and some she did. She just stood there and answered questions whenever someone asked her. She also spent the night talking to potential buyers who were interested in her paintings. It was gonna be hard for her to be apart from something she adored so much like her paintings, but she wanted someone else to also get the joy of having her work somewhere. She also needed the money. It was just something she was gonna have to get used to. 

“I love seeing her this happy.” Fred said.

They were all standing in a corner, having some of the complimentary drinks as they all watched her friend enjoy the current moment as she talked about her work with other people. 

Brooklyn nodded in agreement, “Yeah, I’m just mad at him for not showing up. This was so important to her and he didn’t care.”

The group agreed to the redhead’s statement. Drew hadn’t shown up, and they knew that the guy was never gonna show up. They all didn’t like him for that. 

“She deserves so much better than that.” Ben said, finishing up his drink and placing the glass on the tall table beside him. 

Fred turned around. He stood there and looked at her for a few seconds. The beautiful chocolate skinned girl and her bright happy smile that made everyone’s day better. She was different. 

“Alli looks so much better without him, I can feel how different her energy is.” Fred said, turning back again to look at his friends. 

Everyone agreed with that, but they knew that it wasn’t exactly their place to do anything about that. The redhead guy just didn’t want her friend to get hurt by anyone. 

Brooklyn sighed softly, “Well, It’s not really our choice, Fredrick.”

Fred rolled his eyes playfully and smirked slightly, “You’re so annoying. My name’s not Fredrick.”

“But it could be.” The girl smirked mischievously at him.

Mason looked at both of the redheads as they teased each other. He rolled his eyes. 

“I’m surrounded by children.” He said.

Ben looked slightly offended at that statement. “Oh, thank you.”

They all stopped talking as they watched Allison’s older sister, Amber. She was standing in at the other side of the room, but she looked different. She looked very anxious and not like herself. Amber Smith was one of the popular girls at school. She was a very strong and direct person. The girl didn’t care about anyone’s opinions of her, she was proud of who she was. 

Amber also hung out with the popular kids and was in the Lodge’s circle of friends, so for her to show any vulnerability was weird. 

The group couldn’t really do much to figure it out. No one really had a relationship of any sort with the girl. All they could do at that point is just wonder. 

“He did what?” A very surprised and thrown off Victoria Lodge almost yelled as her friend Amber told her about what had happened. 

It was the next day in school. Lunch break to be exact. And the infamous small group of popular girls sat at their usual spot in the cafeteria. 

Her blonde sidekick gasped softly. She was surprised as well by the news and the “tea” the beautiful brunette was “spilling”. 

Victoria shook her head in denial. “Shut up, I can’t believe he did that. That’s unacceptable.” 

Ava looked over at her best friend. “We need to do something about it.” 

The young Lodge shook her head in response as she crossed her arms and laid her back on the chair. 

“Unfortunately, we’re not paw patrol or something to control his annoying obnoxious self. We can’t get involve in this.” 

Amber let out a soft sigh and stared at the table in front of her. She was thinking about something to say or do that would change her friend’s mind. She knew that the girl had a point. If   
they got involved it would turn into a mess, but it’s not like she cared that much about that. She just wanted to defend her sister. 

“The last thing your sister wants to hear right now is anything about him. So let her heal.” The raven haired said.

“But wouldn’t you wanna expose the guy that cheated on you?” Amber asked the girl.

Victoria shook her head in response. She looked unbothered by the question. She had already dealt with similar things before. “No. I would deal with it privately. Why would I want the whole school to know?” 

A few tables away, a redhead and a brunette sat and actually used that free time to have their lunch. The other members of their group of friends were elsewhere at this time, so they just sat and ate. 

The redheaded guy looked over at his friend, “So, Mase. New year, new people. Have you found any girl you’re interested in?” 

He was genuinely curious to know the answer. Mason rarely dated anyone, he was kind of a loner. It wasn’t because he didn’t like people or anything like that, it was just because he knew   
he wanted to date a girl he really liked. He didn’t like to just date out of boredom. He wanted it to be special. 

Mason shrugged as he played around with his fork and his meal in front of him. It wasn’t really a question he wanted to hear, and he didn’t even have an answer for that. 

“I don’t know…” He said, “There’s definitely some interesting new girls this year, but i’m not sure.”

Fred definitely had experience with girls. He was a hopeless romantic, like his father. Even if none of his relationships ever worked out in the past, he still hoped for something better every time. 

“We need to find you a girl this year. It needs to happen.” The redhead said with a small smile forming on his face.

Mason shook his head, “It’s fine. I don’t need a girlfriend. Besides, the girl I was interested in might be taken.” 

The brunette knew that the girl he liked in that way was very complicated, but there was just something about her that made him want her so much. He also had a feeling they weren’t meant to be together. They were from two completely different worlds, and that was fine. He just wanted to admire from a far. 

“But it’s not like she’s engaged or something. You still have a chance.” Fred said, trying to encourage his friend and give him something to hope for. He knew that Mason rarely liked girls, so he was willing to help him out. 

The brunette shook his head again. “No, it’s fine. It’s basically impossible.”

“No, I’m not giving up on you man. Even if she isn’t the one, i’ll find you someone.” Fred said to him. 

It was time for Brooklyn’s gym period. Instead of walking there with her friend like usual, she was enjoying someone else’s company. She was walking through the halls with none other than Erika. 

It had been a slow day for the both of them, especially since they had totally different schedules due to the fact that they were in different grades. The only period they shared in common was gym, but it was also something they both enjoyed, and they liked it even more now that they began to hang out. It was way more entertaining and fun than before. 

The two girls had started to spend a lot of time together. It was mostly because of their bulldogs meetings and training, but also because they just hung out after school. Even though there were many things happening , the school experience was starting to get better, in Brooklyn’s opinion, and she couldn't get enough of it. She was happy.

“Are you gonna beat my team at volleyball today?” The tall blonde asked.

Brooklyn smiled slightly and nodded. “Of course. That’s what you get for not picking me at the beginning of the year.” 

“I didn’t know you that well. I regret it now, obviously.” Erika said.

The redhead gave her a cocky smirk, “I’m just that amazing.”

Erika rolled her eyes playfully, as she played along as well. “Yeah, right…”

Both of the girls blushed as they talked and walked over to the gym room, trying not to run over onto people as they joked around. 

“By the way, my friends really like you.” The redhead confessed. “It was fun hanging out with all of you.”

The other girl nodded and chuckled slightly as she blushed heavily, “Yeah, it was great before the brunette barbie graced us with her presence.” 

Brooklyn bit her lower lip slightly, she felt bad about that even if it was not her fault that the brunette had shown up and interrupted all of them the night of the drive in. 

“Yeah, I’m sorry about her…” 

Erika shook her head at her, “No don’t apologize for her. It’s not your fault.”

The redhead laughed slightly as she thought about everything that had happened that night. It was crazy to even think about it. 

“I warned you she was evil though…” She said. 

The blonde nodded in agreement. “True, but I didn’t know at what extend.” 

Both of the girls laughed at their statements for a few seconds, before Brooklyn felt like she needed to do something. She was nervous for it, but she wanted to start moving forward and figure things out with the taller girl. 

“But, maybe we could try it again.” She suggested. 

The redhead quickly earned a cheerful grin from the other girl.

“I would really like that.”

“Perfect.” 

Jackson Jones’ mother was so upset and disappointed in him. So was his dad. That disappointment grew as they talked to the school’s principal and he explained what had happened during the football tryouts. Both Carter and Jackson had fought in the field, but it was Jackson that threw the first punch. For that, Betty knew exactly what to do. She was gonna ground him for two whole weeks.

“This is a behaviour I will not keep tolerating on my school.” Principal Wyers began. He was very serious and direct towards the two guys. 

Jackson, Betty and Jughead were the only ones at the man’s office. Carter had just finished talking to him and he was free to go. The principal was giving the blonde the same warning that he gave Carter. 

The older man looked at Jackson. “For now, I’ll give you both detention for a month. If it happens again, I will not hesitate to expel you. I’m giving you the last warning, kid.” 

Jackson nodded at him. “Thank you, sir.” 

With that, the meeting ended. The family walked out of the principal’s office. Both of his parents already discussing what the punishment was gonna be.

Betty felt relieved that he wouldn’t get expelled, or a suspension for it. Although, that didn’t change the fact that she was so mad at his son for behaving that way. The blonde didn’t know that he had that in him, she always saw him as his sweet boy, who could do no wrong to anyone. Of course, everyone had a little darkness in them. 

“You know we don’t like doing this to you guys, but this was too extreme. You’re gonna be grounded, Jackson. No parties, no hanging out at night. After school you come straight home.”   
Jughead told his son. He didn’t like being serious to his kids, but it was a measure he had to take in order for his son to learn. 

“Whatever. It wasn’t my fault anyways, and he deserved it.” Jackson said, referring to Carter. 

“Sorry, buddy.” His dad told him.

Jackson rolled his eyes at his dad’s comment. He was so tired of everyone and everything. He was so frustrated and annoyed, just wanting to get away from everything and yell. 

“Don’t sorry me.” The male blonde said annoyed, “I’m not a kid anymore! Stop treating me like one!” 

After saying that, he stormed off, leaving Betty and Jughead at the office startled. All this time, Jackson had behaved well. He never got into trouble and never raised his voice to his parents. So, they were shocked at what just had happened. 

They both stood there, not knowing what to say or do. Betty just knew that it wouldn’t be a good idea to go after him. She didn’t want to turn into her mother, Alice; who was always in her business back when she was a teenager. She understood that there was something going on with her son, and he would speak and talk whenever he was ready. She wasn’t gonna push him.   
She loved him too much to make him feel the way she felt when she was younger. Trapped. 

So, she decided to give him time, and let him breath. 

Mason was hanging outside of the school’s office. He was standing there patiently, even though he hated that place. He never got in any trouble, but he was just there waiting for someone to come out. 

He then saw a certain raven haired girl approaching the office. She stopped as she saw him and smiled slightly at him. 

“What are you doing here? Got into any trouble?” She asked. Her big dark eyes filled with curiosity. 

He shook his head with a smile. “No, I’m just waiting for someone.” 

“Oh. Me too. We can wait together then.” She said as she smiled back at the very calm and peaceful guy.

He nodded slightly. “Sounds good to me.”

They stood there in silence for a few seconds, just enjoying each other’s calm companies. But, after a bit, Victoria began to talk. She was very curious to know why he was there as well.

“So…” She began, as she looked over at the boy. “Who are you waiting on?”

He bit her lip slightly before he began to explain it to the girl. He didn’t think it would make any harm to tell her.

“Just my brother. He got involved in a fight.” 

The raven haired immediately looked concerned. She knew that there had been a fight in school, but she had no idea how many people were involved in it.

“Oh. Is he okay?” She asked. 

Mason nodded softly, “Yeah, he’s fine. He got a black eye, but that jerk deserved it, not gonna lie.” 

“Did he start it?” She asked curiously, wanting to know more. She knew that her boyfriend had gotten involved, but she didn’t know at what extend. 

Mason shrugged, “Most likely yes. He is such a jerk. The absolute worst.”

The girl chuckled softly at his description of him. She had been hearing how awful Mason’s brother was. She had tried to figure it out but she couldn’t really. She felt like she needed to know who could be so horrible. Her curiosity was killing her. 

“Oh my god. Who is your brother?” She finally asked, hoping to get the response. But instead, the moment was interrupted by a very loud person who had just come out of the office. Perfect timing. 

Carter looked over at his girlfriend as he got out of the office. He immediately wrapped his arm around her waist. 

“Hey, babe. How long have you been waiting for?” He asked. 

She turned her head to face him and smiled slightly. “Not that long, I’ve had company.” 

After she said that, Carter looked over at the other brunette in front of him. He gave him a small nod as he did. 

“Thanks, bro. Did dad call you?” Carter asked. 

Mason nodded in response, “Yeah but don’t worry. I told him to not come.”

Victoria looked at both of the guys as they exchanged words. She was confused, shocked and thrown off guard by that. How could she not see that one coming? How could Carter forget to mention something so important like that to her?

The girl just looked at Mason confused. He gave her an I’m sorry kind of look. He truly was. Especially due to his knowledge of how his brother was, and how horrible the guy was to people.   
He really didn’t think that any girl deserved to be with such a jerk like Carter, but it was too late to even warn the girl. Besides, he didn’t want trouble. Maybe, he hoped that his brother would treat her right, and that their relationship was different. 

Every single word that Mason had said about his brother kept replaying in Victoria’s mind. 

He’s such a jerk. 

He’s satan reincarnated. 

She was definitely worried, but it was too late. Besides, he hadn’t really done anything to upset her as much. Right? Maybe he changed. He could be different with her. Yeah, in her eyes he was different. 

“Good. Well, I’ll see you later, bro.” Carter said.

“Bye, Mason.” Victoria gave the boy one last glance before Carter and her walked off into the hallways. 

Mason and Carter had never really had a good wholesome brothers relationship as they wished they had. They always butted heads as kids because they were so different. Carter had always had a stronger personality in everyone’s eyes, while Mason was quiet. 

Carter was more like his dad, Reggie who was outgoing, flirtatious, and out there.. While, Mason was more like her mother who was smart, vulnerable and kind. Every since they could remember they never got along. But still, they were family, so they tried their hardest. 

Throughout the years, Mason had to watch what an egocentric person his brother had become. He always had watched him bully other people, and be a total douche to girls. No one deserved to be treated the way he was used to treating people. Not even the evil brunette barbie.

It was finally the end of the long, tiring and eventful school day. Ben was currently at his locker, storing his books and things back in there so he wouldn’t take everything home with him. It was something he did every day after he was done with his classes.

Once Allison and Fred saw their friend at his locker they quickly walked over to him. They had been looking for him everywhere for a while now. Their schedules were very different so they barely had classes with him. But, they were very thrilled to talk to the boy, ever since they found out some news. Which they thought would be exciting for him. 

“Guess what we just found out.” Allison told Ben, as she laid her back on the locker next to his.

“I’m really bad at this game, just tell me already.” Ben said, slightly careless as he continued to unpack his school bag. 

Fred, who was on the other side of him began to talk. “So, we might know someone who is crushing on you, and wants to date you.” 

Allison nodded excited as her friend revealed it. She really was hoping that Ben would get curious or excited about it as well. But, it was totally not the reaction they got.

The young Jones shook his head as he closed his locker, once he was done. 

“Whoever it is, i’m not interested.” He said.

Allison furrowed her eyebrows confused. She really didn’t know why he was acting the way he was, or why he didn’t even ask any questions about it. 

The redhead looked over at him, “Well, we can find you someone if you want. Just tell us what you are looking for.” 

Fred was just trying to help his friend out. He knew a lot of people, that could potentially be interested in Ben. And he had never seen his friend with anyone else before, so he just wanted him to have more experiences, and be happy with someone. 

“I appreciate what you’re trying to do, but i’m really not interested.” Ben said, as he started to walk away.

Both of his friends followed him. They were walking behind him, both on each side. 

“But you never know, what if you find someone you like.” Allison suggested. She tried to make his friend just let her help.

Ben shook his head. His mind was made up, he just really didn’t feel like he needed someone at the moment, especially with everything that was happening. 

“How will you know if you never try?” Fred asked.

The young Jones stopped, making both of his friends stop as well. He turned around and looked at both of them, before beginning to talk. He was just tired of hearing it. First it was from Brooklyn, which was okay since in his eyes since she was just annoying sometimes. But the more he heard it from his other friends it, the more it began to frustrate him. 

“Why can’t you all just understand that i’m fine?” He began in a serious tone. “I don’t want anyone. I’m fine by being alone. Why can’t you guys just let that be?” 

Both of his friends were surprised at his tone. Ben rarely raised his voice. Allison and Fred just stayed quiet and listened as he went on.

“I don’t need a relationship to feel complete like you guys. That’s just me. I’m a loner when it comes to that. And i’m tired that you guys can’t accept that.” He said.

With that, Ben left very frustrated and annoyed. He wanted to be alone and not talk about it to anyone right now. There was so much about him that his friends wouldn’t understand. And, he didn’t know how to explain it or his feelings, but he just wanted acceptance. He just wanted to be with his thoughts. 

Both Fred and Allison stood there still, exchanging looks and feeling bad for pushing his friend to where he didn’t wanna go. They felt awful, but there wasn’t a lot they could do anyways. All they could do is give Ben the space he needed and let him talk whenever he was ready.

Ava and Amber sat at the bleachers after school as they watched the some of the bulldogs training. They were both there since they were currently dating bulldogs, and they just wanted to be there and show some support. And they also thought they looked pretty attractive as they were training. 

The blonde blew a kiss at Ethan as he looked over. He smiled and catched the invisible kiss, making the girl blush heavily. 

Amber smiled over at her friend as she saw that. She had never seen her that excited and happy about someone ever. Ethan was the first boy Ava had gone out with and she was completely head over heels, you could totally tell. Everyone knew this already. 

“He really makes you happy, doesn’t he?” Amber asked curiously. 

The blonde’s cheeks turned a darker shade of read as she heard that. She nodded at the question. 

“He’s just so...enchanting.” She said, with a big grin on her face. “He’s like so different from all the other guys.” 

Amber nodded in agreement. She really didn’t know Ethan that much, but she knew that for Ava to be this dreamy, he had to be a catch. 

“Do you love him?” She asked curiously. 

Ava bit her lip as she thought about the answer for a while. She really couldn’t answer. 

“I’m starting to fall for him. And it’s so scary, but i’m so ready.” The blonde began with a smile, “Ever since I was a girl, all I ever dreamed about was finding the perfect guy, that made me feel so safe and loved. Especially after seeing my parents, and wanting what they have. I feel that with him, Amber…” 

Amber smiled at her friend’s answer. She really felt happy for the girl. She hoped that really soon she would find someone that made her feel that exact same way as well. If it was possible for Ava, it would most certainly be possible for her as well. 

“But, have you ever thought that if it doesn’t end well between both you and Ethan, it could ruin things with Victoria?” Amber asked. 

Ava shook her head in response. “No, we’ve talked about it before and our friendship is so strong. I don't think it would ever. She’s my best friend.” 

The blonde was aware of her feelings for the raven haired boy, and she didn’t really think that anything could ever tear them apart. Her friendship with Victoria was stronger than ever, and in her mind nothing would ever change that. She was confident in that. 

The blonde suddenly got distracted as she watched a tall blonde girl talking to Ethan in the field. She felt this burning sensation inside of her that she didn’t like at all. All she could think about was how badly she wanted that girl to stop talking to the guy she liked so much. 

“God, what does she even want?” Ava rolled her eyes. 

Amber looked carefully at both the tall girl and Ethan, who were just talking. Nothing much was going on, and he didn’t look that interested whatsoever. 

“According to V, that girl is like a lost, sad puppy. She probably just wants attention, don’t worry about her, Ava.” Amber told her friend, trying to calm her down. 

“She better stay away.” The blonde said, rolling her eyes once again. 

She was starting to get a bad feeling about that tall girl. She didn’t like when other girls talked to Ethan, not because she wasn’t confident in what they had. She trusted him, but still it wasn’t something she liked seeing. Although, Ava knew she had to get used to it. She was dating one of the popular boys. 

“Why is mom running around like crazy?” The young redhead asked her mother, as she looked at the older redhead for a moment.

They were currently sitting on the couch and watching some TV. The sports channel to be exact. Both Toni and Brooklyn loved watching american football, and baseball. It was something that they would bond over, since Cheryl wasn’t a big sports fan. 

“Because we’re gonna be having the Lodges over for dinner tonight. It was last minute.” Toni told her. 

The truth is that they decided to hide that information from her cause they didn’t know how their daughter was gonna react to that. 

Veronica, Cheryl and Toni just wanted to catch up with each other, and didn’t want their girls to be enemies. They were all extremely close in high school, and went through several hard times together. They at least wanted their girls to get a long. 

Brooklyn looked confused, but mostly annoyed. “What? Why? Mom, I mean it when I say she’s terrible. She’s so fake. And I think her brother is too. They’re evil.”

Toni chuckled lightly at her daughter’s response, that was definitely the Cheryl in her shining through, which is a part that she loved from her wife a lot, but of course Cheryl didn’t like it as much. She didn’t want her daughter to be mean and petty like she was back then.

“Didn’t you say that she looked like she was having a rough time at the party?” Toni asked her, making her daughter nod slightly. 

“Yeah, but that doesn’t give her an excuse to be mean and-”

“I know, baby, and I’m sorry.” The brunette began, wrapping her arm around her daughter, “But when I met your mother, she was so mean to me. She insulted me a lot. And I could’ve hated on her back, but I knew that there was more to her than that cold, mean, bitch persona she was being. Everyone has a story.”

“How bad of a story does she have in order to be that cold hearted?” The redhead asked, rolling her eyes slightly. 

Toni shrugged. “I don’t know, but we raised you to be a beautiful, understanding person. There’s more to her than you know, Brookie.” 

Brooklyn sighed softly. She really wasn’t a big fan of the idea, but she had to make an effort for her mothers. 

“Fine… I’ll try to be nice.”

“That’s my girl.” 

“Toni!” They both heard Cheryl yell from across the room. 

They immediately knew it was go time. 

The doorbell rang, which could only mean one thing. And no, it wasn’t pizza. The Lodges had arrived. Cheryl and Toni quickly went over to the front door, and before they opened it, Cheryl shot her daughter (who was currently holding her 5 year old brother) a quick look. A warning look, which Brooklyn got immediately. She knew she had to behave tonight or her mother was gonna have to face her mother’s wrath, which she feared more than she feared the dark or anything in life. 

Once, they opened the door, Cheryl and Toni smiled and welcomed both Veronica and Victoria into their home. 

“Hey!” The older raven haired woman said with a big smile on her face, she missed her friends so much. “I missed you guys! You both look incredible.”

“So do you, you haven’t aged a single day.” Cheryl complemented her, then quickly went over to say hi to the mini Veronica standing in front of her. 

Veronica hugged Toni right after she hugged Cheryl, “I miss your pink locks!” 

“So do I!” Toni said with a smile as she let both of the girls come in. “Come in, please.”

Brooklyn brought her attention back to her little brother as he began to tug softly on her shirt. 

“Can I go now to run outside?” He asked softly to her older sister, hoping she would say yes, but of course that’s not the answer she gave him. Brooklyn stared into his big, brown puppy eyes. She felt bad saying no, but they couldn’t just ditch dinner.

“I wanna do that too, buddy. But we have to be here.” She answered, making him give her one of his little cute pouts, “I promise you a milkshake right after, okay?”

“Ethan is being a lovebird, so it’s just us two tonight, but you have to stop by for dinner at our place. Once, the whole family is together.” Veronica said, as she walked in the house and looked around. “You guys did amazing, I remember when this house was all victorian looking.”

Both the redhead and brunette laughed at Veronica’s comment, as they continued to walk around the house. 

“How’s Mr. Lodge doing?” Toni asked curiously.

“He’s great. He’s doing some business in Miami, then he’s heading to Switzerland. But, hopefully he’ll be back sooner than later.” Veronica answered with a smile. 

Cheryl smiled as she listened to Veronica talk. Then, she remembered something. 

“Oh, I have something special for tonight.” The older redhead said, pulling out a very familiar bottle from a table. 

Veronica smiled happily as she saw what it was. She was very excited to have a few drinks with her friends.

“Oh my god. Red Raven!” The older Lodge said. “Even though I still run my other rum business, Red Raven will always be the best rum we’ve ever created, Cher.” 

“Agreed. Now, let’s get this night going.” The redhead said, a smirk forming on her face.

Victoria was tired of hearing the adults talk, so she decided to walked over to both of the young Topaz-Blossom’s and gave them both a warm small smile. 

“Hey there.” She said softly. 

Brooklyn would be lying if she said that the girl didn’t radiate a different energy at the moment. She looked calm and kind. Almost like innocent. 

The youngest member of the Topaz-Blossom family gave her a big smile as he looked at the beautiful dark haired girl with complete heart eyes. 

“I wanna marry you.” He said.

The girl chuckled softly at his reaction and looked down at the boy, “I think you might be a little too young for me.”

“I don’t careeeee!” He said, finally freeing himself off his older sister’s arms and running off onto the hall. 

Both of the teenage girls laughed at what had currently happened and just watched him run off. 

Brooklyn was totally jealous due to the fact that little Jason wasn’t gonna get in trouble for doing that, since he was a kid, but if she did that, she’d be grounded for a week. 

“I didn’t know you had a younger brother.” Victoria said, sitting down beside the redhead.

Brooklyn nodded at her and smiled, “I mean you’ve been gone for years, so. He’s a little crazy.” 

“He’s adorable.” Victoria said with a smile. 

“Yeah…” Brooklyn said with a chuckle. 

For a bit they just sat there in an awkward silence. They didn’t know what to say to each other, especially since they felt like they just didn’t really get along, but they had to try for the sake of their mothers. 

Victoria was hating Ethan so much at the moment. If he had been there it probably wouldn’t have been as awkward. 

After dinner, the conversation topics between the mothers were getting more mature and all about the old days, which was something that both the teenagers couldn’t partake in. So, Brooklyn knew that it was best if she and Victoria took off somewhere. The redhead knew it was gonna be awkward and silent but, her moms were gonna thank her later. They owed her big time. 

“Hey, Victoria. You wanna go watch a movie or something?” She asked, hoping she would actually say no. 

“Yeah, sure.” the raven haired smiled, and got up her seat. Giving her mother a small smile before taking off and following the redhead upstairs into her bedroom.

“Welcome to the Brook Cave.” The redhead said, as she opened the door of her bedroom, letting the brunette walk in first. 

Victoria smirked as she heard that, and walked in. She looked around the room, and although she really didn’t know the girl, this room gave her an understanding of who she was. The walls were painted a light blue color. There was a big bed with a light yellow bed sheet on top of it, and a lot of different shades of blue pillows. It was surprisingly a nice combination. 

“Brook Cave... Interesting. This is were you come to plan all of your attacks on me?” Victoria asked, walking over to the big shelves. She saw different types of books, and some other things like notepads, drawings and colored pencils. 

“Kinda.” Brooklyn answered sarcastically.

Victoria rolled her eyes playfully as she kept walking around the room, exploring the space at the same time that she was kind of exploring who Brooklyn really was.

She stopped at a wall. It was filled with pictures of Brooklyn, her friends, some dogs and cats, and her family. It gave her a warm feeling seeing all of that. Everyone looked happy in these pictures. 

“I’m sorry though. I just wanna start over, can we do that?” Brooklyn asked, as her eyes followed the girl walking around the room. 

“Depends…” The brunette said, grabbing a sea turtle figurine that was laying on the bedside table, “Can I keep this?” 

Brooklyn smirked slightly as she furrowed her brows confused, “You like turtles?”

“I sure do.” Victoria answered.

“Then alright. Trouse?” The redhead asked.

“Trouse.” 

The redhead looked at the girl’s genuine smile as she said that, and the cute small dimple forming next to her lips that she hadn’t noticed before. 

Brooklyn was really hoping that things would change between them.

“I’m sure you deserved to be the leader of the cheer squad.” She said. 

The brunette sighed softly as she sat on the other side of the bed. “Well I did work my ass of. I cancelled my trip to Italy, so I could come for the try outs. I swear I couldn’t walk for 3 days after those and then the long training.” 

Brooklyn laughed slightly at that. She really had no idea about that. She felt bad for attacking her that one time, especially since she didn’t know all the details. 

“Well you look amazing” The redhead said. “I just really miss her. Emma, I mean.”

“Yeah, I figured.” Victoria said, feeling empathy for the girl. “I’ve missed her too.”

“What happened between you two?” Brooklyn asked curiously, “You guys used to be good friends. You use to come here for sleepovers all the time. We all were basically-”

Before she could finish the sentence, Victoria quickly got up and cut her off. “I think I have to go. My mom is probably looking for me.” 

“Okay, but…” Brooklyn began, slightly confused at the girls reaction. “Want me to take you downstairs?”

“I can find my way there. Goodnight, Brooklyn.” Victoria said before quickly walking out of the room.

Brooklyn sat there confused. Why would Victoria react that way to such an insignificant question like that? It made no sense in her head. She really thought that things were about to get better with the brunette girl, but she immediately put her walls back up, and the redhead didn’t know why. 

She saw that the turtle figurine was laying on her bed. Victoria had left it behind. Before she could walk out and chase out for her, she heard the front door. She knew that the Lodges were gone. 

Fear and so much confusion washed up all over Jackson Jones’ face. He hated the feeling of that so much, but he was also tired of it. He really debated on whether to speak up to someone he trusted or to stay silent, which was for sure more comfortable. But, silence was eating him up. 

He decided to finally talk, once in for all. But just to an extend, to whatever he felt comfortable with sharing. 

It was a very quiet night in the Jones’ household. He knew that his father was at work, probably at his office writing something. His sister was definitely not around since it was very quiet, and his younger brother was probably locked in his own room, in his own world. So, he took this as an opportunity to talk to his mother. Maybe the timing was perfect.

He was shaking the whole time he was looking for her around the house. He definitely was terrified, but if there was someone who could always understand him to a certain level, it was his mother. He just felt like it was her.

Jackson finally saw her, she was sitting on the couch, reading through some papers, which he assumed was for work. 

Maybe it was a bad idea. He thought to himself. 

Before he could turn the other way around and walk away, he heard her speak.

“Jackson? Is everything okay?” She asked softly as she looked up to her son. It was her mother’s instinct, and she immediately knew something was up, due to the look on his face. 

“Are you busy?” 

She shook her head with a gentle smile forming her lips. “Talk to me.”

He sat down on the couch next to her. She immediately put her papers away and looked over at him, giving him her full attention.   
It took him a few moments to begin, but she waited patiently. If there was something she learnt in her teenage years is that she hated whenever her mother pressured her to talk and be open up. So, she didn’t want that for him. Betty was willing to wait, no matter how long it would take. 

“Have you ever done something you don’t really remember?” He finally asked.

She bit her lip as she thought about the obvious answer. “Yeah. I have. But, it’s something I worked through. And it took me a long time.” 

Jackson listened to her closely. 

“Mom, I have to tell you something. But, you can’t tell dad.” 

Betty looked at him concerned, but tried to keep her cool as she listened. “Sweetie, but there’s no secrets between your dad and I…” 

He shook his head and looked at her in all seriousness. “I’m just asking you for this one thing. Just until I feel like telling him. Please…” 

She eventually nodded her head in agreement. “Okay, I won’t tell your father.” 

He waited a few seconds as he debated again if he should tell her or not how he was truly feeling. Of course he wanted to, but he was gonna for sure leave some details out of it. 

“The last night I saw Michael,” He began, fighting the tears in his eyes. Although he didn’t fight hard enough, they were coming out so quickly. “I-I don’t remember anything…” 

Betty looked at him in complete shock, but just let him continue. All she wanted to do was embrace him, and tell him that it was gonna be alright. 

“I have no idea what happened, mom.” He went on as he got choked up, barely being able to even talk.

This was something that had been killing him and his soul as the days went on and he found out his friend was gone. He didn’t know if it was his fault or not, but after hearing Carter say it, he started to believe it. 

“Am I capable?” He asked, still very emotional. “D-Do you think I could do it?” 

She immediately shook her head, as tears began to fall out of her eyes. She hated seeing her son so emotional and hurt. 

“Of course not…” She began, wrapping her arms around her son. “Listen to me. We might have demons, but you are not capable of doing that.” 

Even if she was aware of her family’s dark past, she knew that she raised her kids to be different. 

She looked into his teary eyes. “Jackson Forsythe Jones, I know who you are. I raised you. You’re not a killer, and you’ll never be.” 

Something in her told her that her son was innocent, and he had no partake in whatever happened to Michael Farris. Call it intuition… mother’s instinct. She was gonna fight for him, even if any kind of evidence would lead straight to him, She was gonna prove that Jackson was innocent, until her very last breath.


	5. The Nighttime Quest part I

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back with another chapter y'all. I've made the decision to cut the chapters into parts since I know that they're very long. I hope that makes them easier to read and enjoy. If you guys have any suggestions or comments make sure to leave them, i'd love to know. :) 
> 
> Enjoy the ride.

A nice and fresh citrusy, but also very warm scent invaded Ethan’s nose as her light blonde hair fell over her shoulders in a perfect, messy cascade. She was flawless. She was someone he had never met before. So sweet and kind, very innocent. He felt very lucky.

His back was laying on the bed as the girl was on top, her legs wrapped around his torso as they made out for what seemed like 30 minutes, it had been a while since she had been dropped off to his house. 

Of course their mothers were not aware of what they were up to. Betty had dropped her off early in the morning, and Veronica had left to attend some business meetings. Ethan’s sister probably got tired of waiting and decided to head to school on her own. They were all by themselves. 

Ava was really good with making up things, so her parents wouldn’t ask her questions and get worried. She had previously told them that she was gonna be with the raven haired boy’s sister, and that she wanted to get a ride from the sibling duo to school. While Ethan’s mother wasn’t really as nosy in his life since she was always busy. 

They stayed like that a another few minutes, kissing each other deeply and touching each other lovingly, or whispering sweet things into each other’s ears. They were in there for a while that they really forgot about the time. 

Ava pulled away softly, as she heard her phone ringing. She stayed in the same position, on top of her boyfriend as she reached over for her phone. She saw a message from her brother Ben. 

Where the hell are you? We’re literally in homeroom. He texted. 

“Shit.” She said, biting her lower lip. 

“What is it?” He asked with a smirk on his face, slightly rubbing soft circles on the girl’s pale leg. 

“We’re gonna be late. They’re already in homeroom.” She said as she got off him and quickly walked over to the nearest mirror. She quickly began to fix herself up, especially her blonde, messy hair. 

Ethan got up as well, grabbing his things calmly. He wasn’t that scared of being late to school.

“Homeroom is a waste of time anyways.” He said. 

She nodded, as she ran a small comb through her hair, trying to make it look good. 

“True, but if we don’t get there in the next 5 minutes my brother’s gonna kill me.” 

The raven haired smirked slightly and walked over to the girl. He stood right beside her as he looked at her reflection. 

“You look beautiful. You don’t need to fix anything.” He said softly.

Her cheeks immediately turned into a bright red color as she heard that. She smiled at him and rolled her eyes. She then turned around and quickly pecked his lips softly. 

“This isn’t over.” She said confidently. 

“I’m glad it isn’t.” 

Writing was definitely not easy, especially for Mason Mantle. Too many feelings, too many ideas. He didn’t even know where to begin, or how to begin. He had been trying to write music whenever he had free time, but anything he worked on could convince him. It was so hard for him to write when his head was crowded with so many thoughts. Which others would think that it would make the process easier, it really doesn’t. Especially for a perfectionist like Mason. 

Coming up with melodies was his forte. It was way easier than writing for him. Although, he wanted to express himself in some way, and needed to say so much and to let it out in some way.

He looked over to the big window and noticed something he clearly wanted to unsee and not even think about. It was Carter walking through the hallway hand in hand with Victoria Lodge. 

He didn’t know why he didn’t like it so much, or why cared. It’s not like he knew her or even talked to the girl that much. It just wasn’t something he enjoyed seeing. He could already imagine all the damage that his brother was gonna cause on the girl. It was so unfair. 

The silver lining was that the current event was fuelling him with words, and so many phrases, that began to turn into small verses. His head was going somewhere, and so was his heart.

He quickly grabbed his notepad and began to fill it up with everything running through his mind. Everything that hurt him or made him happy. All the feelings, and all the thoughts in his brain. 

Mason finally felt like he was letting go of so many things, and it felt amazing.

Back in class, most of the students paid attention to the teacher. They were discussing a few things in class, but one of the most controversial topics was currently being talked about by Ms. Bradburry. It was about the legalization and abuse of a certain drugs. 

“So the question still is, should the government legalize the usage of drugs? Could this maybe change anything if people had the freedom?” Ms. Bradburry asked everyone.

She was standing at the front of the class, looking at all of her students and noticing that there was a group of girls who were definitely not caring about the topic. They had all their attention to themselves as they laughed quietly.

She kept her eyes on the group of girls at the back, finally calling on them.

“Anything interesting you want to add to the class discussion, girls?” She asked, as two of the girls quickly calmed down, and tried to remain compose so they wouldn’t get in trouble.   
One of them didn’t really mind it at all. She looked over at the teacher and carelessly shook her head. 

“Not really.” The raven haired girl answered with a slight smirk on her face. 

Ms. Bradburry could definitely tell that the girl wasn’t scared of her, or probably anyone. Everytime the girl went into the class, she would put up her walls and enter with a whole attitude. She hoped that she could change the girl’s perspective of it and take her by surprise. It was just gonna be a matter of time. 

“I would really like to know what your point of view is, Ms. Lodge.” She asked the young girl. 

The raven haired looked at the teacher fearlessly as she began, “First of all, it’s kind of an unnecessary topic. We all know that about 70% of the people in this room are very likely to not change until they reach the age of 45. And, there’s only hope for the 35% of them.” 

“Do you partake in this activity?” The teacher asked.

Victoria looked at her surprised as she shook her head in denial. “Oh god no. I know my worth, honey.”

Ms. Bradburry stayed quiet as the girl went on.

“The numbers of drug consumers in this country keep rising every single day. It’s due to the fact that schools and classes want to sugarcoat what’s actually happening out there.” The young   
Lodge continued, “You guys try so hard to make everything sound pretty and fragile. While the reality of this subjects is not pretty. We know the truth.” 

“So you think that the way the education system should change?” The teacher asked.

Everyone in class stayed quiet and watched the discussion like it was a mad tennis match. Most of them agreed with what the young Lodge was saying, very obvious. 

“Too late for that. There’s too many addicts.” The raven haired said, looking into the teacher’s eyes. “You guys have failed us.” 

Mrs. Bradburry bit her lip, trying to have a think of a good and positive conclusion, even though it seemed almost impossible at this point. The young girl was stating fact after fact. 

“Well, we can try to do what we can. Bettering the education, making sure we get good counsellors.” The woman said, hoping that the girl would finally give up.

“That sounds like a good idea.... If this was 8th Grade.” Victoria answered. “Do you seriously think that some lonely and stubborn teens are really gonna listen now?” 

Ms. Bradburry heard the bell ring, leaving her without anything else to say. Not that she had an idea of what to say to defend anything that wasn’t the young Lodge’s point of view. She felt drained and exhausted, so she decided to just let everyone pack up to leave for their next period. 

As the raven haired girl walked out of the classroom and into the not too crowded hallways with her two friends, she was stopped by a certain redhead. The girl didn’t look mad but definitely didn’t look happy either. Mostly surprised. 

“Victoria?” She asked.

The Lodge looked over at her slightly confused at the redhead. She then looked at her two friends that were on each side of her. 

“I’ll see you later girls.” She told them, giving them the cue to give her some privacy and walk away.

Brooklyn watched as the two girls said their goodbyes and walked off into the halls, leaving her with the outspoken shorter girl. 

“Can I help you?” The girl asked her.

“What was that about?” Brooklyn asked confused, meaning to everything that happened in class.

Victoria’s eyebrows furrowed slightly as she heard that. “What was what about?”

“In class. Why do are you like so...aggressive.” 

The raven haired was taken by surprised by that question, no one had ever asked that before. She tried to not show that. 

“She told me to state my point of view, and so I did.” She answered quickly. 

The redhead looked confused at the answer. It still didn’t make sense to her. “Yeah, but did you have a reason? You looked so normal last night. Did something happen?”

Victoria looked away as she thought of a good answer. She didn’t like being interrogated and having to give explanations. 

“I’m being normal. You just don’t know me, Brooklyn.” 

“I might not, but something inside me is saying that there’s more to you than this facade that you’re trying to portray.”

The brunette gave her a serious look and shook her head slightly in disagreement. She couldn’t understand why Brooklyn was being so nosy about something so irrelevant. 

“Sorry to break it to you. You’re wrong. You don’t know who I am.” She said, finally walking away, leaving a very annoyed and confused redhead behind. At that moment, she knew the evil raven haired was never gonna give in. She had to stop trying to be her friend. It was just never gonna work out for them both. 

“I’m really worried about her. This is not like her.” Fred said to both of his friends.

They were all walking towards the common room, since they had a free period before their next class.

Ben nodded in agreement, “Yeah, I don’t think i’ve seen her this upset about something.” 

“I swear to god, Drew is gonna regret it.” The redhead guy said, sitting down on the couch.

Fred was usually like that. It was something he got from his dad. He always looked after his friends and cared for them. Fred always defended them, no matter what, which sometimes could get him in trouble. Not that he cared. He couldn’t allow anyone ever hurting them. 

Brooklyn finally joined the group after a bit. She plopped down on the couch next to the redheaded guy and sighed softly. 

“What are we talking about?” She asked curiously.

“Alli. How was the talk with Miami Barbie?” Ben asked. 

Brooklyn immediately rolled her eyes as her friend mentioned her. “Don’t even remind me.”

Her friends chuckled slightly at her attitude.

“Did you tell them about the plan tonight?” She continued, as she looked at Ben.

“Oh yeah. We heard from someone that there’s some evidence that could expose Drew, so we’re gonna look tonight.” Ben explained to the boys.

Mason looked at both the redhead and him. “Oh great, we can help.”

The redheaded girl shook her head. “Too many people, we need to keep this on the low.” 

Fred understood. “She’s right. Maybe we can go check on Alli tonight.” 

Mason nodded in agreement. “Just let us know if you need anything.” 

“We got help, don’t worry.” Brooklyn said with a slight smirk.

After a long day of school, cheerleading practice and hanging out with her friends, Victoria was finally at home. She currently brushed through her long, raven colored hair as she looked at her reflection in the big lit up mirror in her white vanity. 

She was planning on staying in for the night, turn off her phone to ignore any texts messages and read some book. It had been a very tiring week for her, and she was kind of looking forward to the weekend. Even though she had plans for the weekend. All she wanted to do was rest, but she knew that would be impossible. She had a status to keep up with. 

Victoria was suddenly interrupted by loud knocks on her door. She rolled her eyes and quickly wrapped her fluffy, long and pink robe around her waist as she heard the door open. She looked at the person coming in and it was none other than her brother. 

“I thought you were at school. Ava said you guys had cheer practice.” Ethan told her.

She furrowed her brows in confusion as she looked at him. “Why would I? We had practice in the morning.” 

He shrugged in response. He didn’t know why either but he wanted his sister to help him figure it out with him. She was good at that. 

“I don’t know, but I thought you should know.” He said and looked at her. 

She gave him a side eye and crossed her arms, “You want me to help you figure this out, right?” 

“Yep. Get ready quickly. We leave in 5.” Ethan said, before walking out of his sister’s room.

Victoria rolled her eyes annoyed. All the girl wanted to do was read her damn book, but her quiet Thursday night was gone and out of the window now.


	6. The Nighttime Quest part II

“Wait, you need to tell us more, Mr. Andrews!” Allison chuckled as she put her glass down on the table. “I feel like your guys’ highschool years were way more exciting than ours could ever be.” 

Mason, Allison, Fred and his father were currently sitting at the small but homey dining table at the Andrew’s household. They had just spent about 2 hours having pizza and talking.   
It was all that Allison needed, just some great company and some food. It got her out of her mind and distracted from all the problems that were currently happening. She loved being so present and talking to her friends. 

“I know, so dramatic. How did you end up fighting a freaking bear?” Mason asked so confused but astonished at the same time. He had so many questions, especially since his father really didn’t talk much about the past. 

Archie couldn’t help but laugh slightly at the memory. He could remember it as if it was yesterday.

“It’s such a long story…” He said.

“Come on, we wanna hear it!” Allison said excited with a smile.

“Tell it dad.” Fred continued.

Archie nodded. He knew it was a crazy story, and he was for sure gonna spare some details, but he knew he had to give the people what they wanted. 

“Just for context, I was dating a girl and her father hated me. He tried to kill me so many times, I can’t even remember. So, I had to run away for a while.” 

They all listened carefully and intrigued as the older redhead continued to tell the story. He went on to tell them how he ended up staying in Canada for a bit, and that day he went out in the forest and the bear just attacked him. 

“But then how did you return to Riverdale?” Mason asked so confused.

Archie smiled, “My best friend Jughead basically dragged me back to town. If it weren’t for Ben’s dad I don’t know where i’d be right now. He really saved me so many times, and he was the reasonable one.” 

“But, what happened with the girl after?” Allison asked intrigued.

Archie sat there in silence for a few seconds as he thought of what to say. He wasn’t gonna tell them that Mason’s dad had a thing with Veronica while he was gone. He didn’t wanna say something wrong. 

“Uh, we dated for a bit right after. But then she went to college.” He told them, making it short and not telling them all the details. No one really knew that many details about his past with Veronica. The only one who knew was his son, and he was okay with that. 

Archie got up from his seat 

“Anyways, I’m gonna let you guys be. I’m gonna head to bed. If you need anything just let me know.

He gave them a small warm smile before finally walking off into his bedroom. 

The 3 teenagers just sat there for a while. They finished up their food and talked for a bit until it went silent again. 

“So, what now?” Allison asked as she looked around. 

Fred smiled and looked at the beautiful girl. 

“We got your favorite movie and snacks, so we could watch it.” He offered.

The girl smiled happily and nodded in agreement. She couldn’t believe how amazing her friends were. 

“So you guys are willing to watch The Notebook?” She asked, holding back a laugh.

Mason nodded, “Duh, what better way to spend my night?” 

Allison smiled at both her friends. She was so grateful that there were still some good guys in the planet, her hope wasn’t lost yet. And she for sure knew she had the best group of friends in the world.

“School is so creepy at night.” Ben said, as he walked through the very empty, mysterious looking halls with the three girls.

Yes, they were hanging out at school at night time, but they were there with a purpose. It was 8:20 pm on a Thursday night, meaning the mandatory Bulldog training had ended for the team about 20 minutes ago. 

Ben, Brooklyn, Amber and Ava were there on a mission. They weren't just at school because they wanted to.   
After their crazy day, rumors had been spreading around that Drew had been cheating on his girlfriend, Allison. It was totally not alright.

Amber as Allison’s sister, was there to find out the truth. Ava, as Amber’s friend was there to support. Brooklyn and Ben were there with the same reason as Amber. 

They all were currently walking to Drew’s locker. 

“What exactly are we looking for?” Amber asked. 

Ava looked at her friend. “Stacy told me, she heard from someone that Drew and Maddie had been sending each other letters. Since texting is way more dangerous nowadays.” 

As they finally reached the locker, Ben tried to crack the code with his amazing detective skills that had been passed down to him from a very young age. 

“Anything that could work as evidence.” Ben said, “No one is believing Alli, so it’s our job to find something.” 

The girls all looked at Ben as he tried to open the locker for a bit. They were all growing impatient. They wanted to know if there was something they could use in there. 

“Jesus, this locker smells awful.” Brooklyn said.

Suddenly, they saw the light of a flashlight being reflected on the locker doors and on them after, making them all startled and slightly gasp in surprise. 

“Color me impressed.” A very familiar voice said. It was a girl.

They looked back to see what it was. Maybe they had been caught? 

The group turned around and saw the raven haired girl and her brother, standing there and not looking so excited to see them all in there. She looked slightly disappointed, but not surprised at all. 

“Well, well. well. What do we have in here?” The raven haired girl said, looking at the 4 people trying to open the lock. 

Both Ava and Amber looked at the girl nervously. They knew exactly that they had refrain from telling the raven haired what they were gonna be doing for the night. Even when the Lodge asked, they lied. 

“H-How? What the hell are you doing here, Victoria?” The redhead asked confused and annoyed. 

Victoria crossed her arms as she looked at the girl, then at her friends again. “A little loyal birdie told me.”

“Did he also tell you to mind your own business for a chance?” Brooklyn snarked at the girl.

Victoria smirked softly at the girl’s comment. “Oh, sweet Brooklyn. Without me you’d be lost. If you think that this is where a high school f-boy is gonna keep all his secrets, you’re wrong.” 

Amber nodded at her friend’s statement. “She is right. I don’t think he’d be so obvious.” 

As much as the redhead hated that fact that Lodge was right, she couldn’t change that. 

“Care to follow me?” Victoria said, quickly taking leadership of the mission. She turned around and began walking, soon the others quickly followed the girl with the flashlight. 

Ava walked next to Ethan quietly. She felt embarrassed especially since she lied to her best friend. She was scared that she had messed things up with the Lodges. 

“Are you mad at me?” The blonde asked concerned. 

Ethan shook his head slightly. “No, I was worried. Especially since you said you had practice, and she was home.” 

“I’m really sorry, Ethan.” 

He grabbed her hand and smiled a bit at the girl, calming her down a lot. “You don’t have to explain. I know how V can be.”

“Do you think she’s mad?” She asked, so nervous to hear the answer.

Ethan nodded in agreement. “She’s pissed. You see her all calm and collected, but in the car. God, she was a mess.” 

“God, she’s totally gonna hate me now.” The blonde bit her lower lip. 

“Try to explain and apologize. Let’s hope for the best.”

Victoria stopped as she heard a few low noises coming from a room. She shushed everyone as she continued to try and figure out what it was. Everyone looked over at the girl, and she looked at her brother. 

“Ethan, grab your phone and start recording.” She said.

The redhead looked at her confused, “What?” 

He did exactly what he was told, grabbed his phone and started to record as they all walked closer to the room where the noises were coming from. They all walked as silently as they could, but not slowing down. 

As they finally reached the finally saw it. It was Maddie and Drew. They were kissing passionately. The girl was on the table as Drew stood in between her legs.

Both of them looked over at the group of people surprised, scared and very embarrassed. They had never imagined that happening to them. They were so blindsided by it all. 

“What the hell are you doing?” Drew asked, very mad as he noticed that he was being recorded.

Victoria smirked mischievously and looked into the people behind her and then at the camera on her brother’s phone. “And that my friends, is how you catch an f-boy.” 

“So you’re seriously cheating on my sister? You called her a liar behind her back!” Amber yelled at the boy. 

Victoria let them all finally take over since she had already done her part. She just stood next to her brother to watch them also as he continued to record.

Drew looked at Allison’s sister. “What? You think i’m gonna tell everyone about this?”

“You’re such an asshole. What is wrong with you? Alli-” Brooklyn began, but Drew quickly cut her off.

“Alli what? I’m not gonna put my whole reputation on the line!” He continued to yell back. 

Everyone was shocked at the answer, even Maddie. The girl who was just quiet, pretending to be innocent but everyone knew she wasn’t. The whole school was aware that Allison and Drew were an item. Maddie should’ve known better. 

“Ethan, stop recording. Give me your phone.” Victoria said.

Her brother passed her his phone with a smirk on his face as well and looked as how Drew quickly rushed over to the raven haired.

Both Brooklyn and Ethan pulled him back before he could actually reach the girl. 

Drew looked at Victoria angry. He knew that whatever the evil girl was doing, it wasn’t gonna be good. 

“What do you think you’re doing? Were you gonna touch my sister? Think again.” Ethan said in a very serious tone, holding onto the guy harder now.

“She can’t post that!” Drew said, trying to defend himself. 

Victoria looked at him and showed him the phone and exactly what she was doing. She was typing in a massive group chat. “What? You want this?” 

Drew’s heart dropped as he saw her hit send. She had just sent the video to probably the entire school. It was over for him. 

“You should think again before, you misogynistic pig.” Brooklyn told him. 

The redhead and Ben were proud and happy to be part of that moment. Even if the raven haired siblings were there. The truth is that they could only do so much, but they didn’t have the guts to do something like that at the moment. The Lodges had done the heavy lifting. 

“Best night ever.” Ben said with a small chuckle. 

Victoria wasn’t over. She looked at Maddie carelessly. 

“And as for you. Return your Vixen uniform first thing tomorrow morning.” 

Maddie almost choked as she heard that, she quickly rushed over the the brunette’s side.

“What? Why? This is crazy, Victoria!” 

Victoria shook her head and looked at her. “No, what’s crazy is you could partake in this little hormonal rendezvous with someone who’s clearly taken.” 

“But Allison is not even a part of the cheer squad.” Maddie said, trying to defend herself. 

But the young Lodge wasn’t having it. She was not playing around.

“And what about that? In the cheer squad we stand for empowerment. Especially female empowerment. We can slip up sometimes, but this was bad. It was way too low.” Victoria said in a serious tone. 

The newly ex member of the cheer squad whined and quickly left the room annoyed and discourage. She knew that she should’ve known better, but that she deserved at it. 

Amber walked over to the raven haired girl and smiled. “That was epic, V.”

The girl looked over at her friend and shook her head. “No. It should’ve been your sister putting him in his place, not me. You grow from things like this. That’s why I didn’t wanna get involved.” 

Brooklyn looked at the girls and immediately jumped in the conversation. “Yes, but Alli doesn’t really have the guts for these things.” 

“No one does. But this is how you learn to take care of yourself. Next time, allow her to.” Victoria answered. 

Ben nodded in agreement. “But still, thank you.” 

The brunette nodded and walked over to her brother who was currently looking through the messages on his phone. It was blowing up. Everyone at school already knew what was happening, and the truth of how Drew was a liar. It was gonna be hell for him the next few days and everyone knew that. 

Ava walked over to her best friend shyly. She was definitely scared of how Victoria was gonna react to everything, but she needed to get over with it.

“V…” She began. “I’m really sorry.” 

Victoria rolled her eyes slightly at the apology. “Sorry for what? Lying to me? Lying to my brother?” 

“For everything…” The blonde answered softly. 

The young Lodge shook her head. “You know what? No. I don’t wanna talk about it right now.” 

“But, Victoria…” 

Victoria looked into Ava’s eyes. 

“Almost everyone in my life lies to me, Ava. You were the one person who I thought I could always lean on and trust.” She said, “It might not be the biggest lie, but it certainly is important to me. Friends don’t lie.” 

With that, the brunette walked off into the dark, scary halls of the school. Not caring to see if anyone was following her. She was tired, and felt betrayed. If there was a single thing she couldn’t tolerate, it was people’s lies. She had enough of that already. 

The redhead looked at her best friend, who was definitely entertained by the whole thing. 

“I sense trouble in paradise.” Brooklyn said, earning an eye roll from Ben. 

He looked at her and sighed. “What a night. Can’t wait for the morning.”


End file.
